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HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 



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HOW TO SPEAK 
WITH THE DEAD 

: : A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK : : 

BY Sciens 

AUTHOR OF RECOGNISED SCIENTIFIC TEXT-BOOKS 




NEW YORK 
E. P. DUTTON & CO. 

681 FIFTH AVENUE 



# v0 






Published 1918 
BY E. P. DUTTON & CO. 






Printed in the United States of America 



CONTENTS 

HAPTBB PAGE 

PREFACE Vii 

I. DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? .... 1 

II. SOUL AND LIFE 28 

III. TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY . 44 

IV. DISCARNATE SPIRITS 57 

V. MEDIUMS ' 77 

VI. COMMUNICATING 90 

VII. PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPEAK- 
ING WITH THE DEAD 103 

VIII. " SPIRITUALISM" AND " RATIONALISM 5 ' 131 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/howtospeakwithdeOOscie 



PREFACE 

Practical instructions for speaking with the 
dead are given in Chapter VII of this book. 
Inasmuch, however, as rational men and wo- 
men do not care to enter upon systematic pro- 
ceedings of any kind without having some 
reasonable assurance that a commensurate re- 
sult will follow, it has been thought desirable 
to add, in Chapters I to IV, a general outline 
of the scientific facts and arguments on which 
the certainties of "survival" and "communica- 
tion" are based. In Chapters V and VI some 
necessary information as to mediums and com- 
municating is given. And, in Chapter VIII, 
the distinction between Speaking with the 
Dead on the one hand, and Spiritualism faced 
by Rationalism on the other, is made clear. 

The book is strictly impartial from all points 
of view — whether Religious, Scientific, Agnos- 
tic, Spiritualistic, or Rationalistic. It is im- 
personal. It sets aside the writer's own occult 
experience which, in the course of a long life 
devoted mainly to scientific pursuits, has hap- 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

pened to be very considerable. It is a mere 
cold, neutral text-book. The hard facts of the 
case are alone responsible for the circumstance 
that it shows Science to be a sponsor for the 
reality of speaking with the dead. 

A few words — which many persons will read 
with amazement— must be added here on the 
subject of Cm bono? Multitudinous vials of 
scorn have been poured out on the inanities of 
ordinary spiritualistic seances; and all research 
into such matters is rigidly boycotted in scien- 
tific circles as being unworthy of any intelli- 
gent individual s notice. Even when the 
President of the Royal Society himself, and 
others who are entitled to write F.Xt.S. or 
D.Sc. after their names, have been known to 
touch the accursed and degrading thing, they 
have been either ostracised or half -pardoned 
contemptuously. This attitude is based on the 
belief that occultism is an idle and vain form 
of mental activity, and cannot, with any reason, 
be expected to add anything to the stock of 
human knowledge or to produce results of 
service to mankind. Cui bono? Why waste 
time in tomfoolery that can never be useful 
and may possibly lead feeble persons into the 
abyss of insanity? 



PREFACE ix 

The defect of the attitude is that it is un- 
scientific. The proudest claim of Science is 
that she deals with the Facts of the universe 
and gives her allegiance to Truth rather than 
to Opinion. But these features are the char- 
acteristics of every well-conducted sitting for 
the development of psychical manifestations. 
The search is for facts; and the object pursued 
is the attainment of truth. If, then, a leader 
of science denounce the sitting as being neces- 
sarily futile he does one of two things: either 
he disallows the proudest claim of Science; or 
he declares the limits of his own personal 
knowledge to be those of Fact and Truth. 

It has often happened that researches which 
appeared at the outset to be a mere waste of 
time have in the end been found productive 
of much practical and useful knowledge. The 
modern inquiries into the feasibility of speak- 
ing with the dead are a case in point. They 
have already brought the world of Science and 
Industry face to face with the possibility and 
near prospect of a command over Matter and 
Physical Force such as men have never hith- 
erto enjoyed and such as must lead inevitably 
to the greatest advance of material prosperity 
that mankind has ever experienced. This may 



x PREFACE 

best be made clear by dealing with some con- 
crete example. 

The lessons of the Great War, the utter- 
ances of expert authorities like Lord Mon- 
tagu of Beaulieu, and the newspapers gener- 
ally, have taught the public that the naviga- 
tion of the air will be the great and dominat- 
ing factor of the world's progress in future. 
This need not be enlarged upon here. Every- 
one admits that the command of the air will 
solve the problem of intercourse between all 
the regions of the globe, and will bring in its 
train a vast (improvement in all the arts of 
living and a greatly-widened distribution of 
natural wealth. 

Now the whole question of aerial navigation 
hinges absolutely and completely on that of 
gravitation. The great desideratum is a 
weightless {i.e., weightless in effect) aero- 
plane (with, of course, a virtually weightless 
crew, virtually weightless passengers, and a 
virtually weightless cargo) which can move 
fast or slowly as required, which can come 
to a stop in the air and which cannot fall. 
Science and industry are now within meas- 
urable distance of such virtually weightless air- 
craft, thanks to the investigators who have 



PREFACE xi 

not been deterred by obloquy and ostracism 
from speaking with the dead. 

It is usually assumed in scientific circles 
that gravity is an unsolved mystery and is en- 
tirely beyond the scope of human control in 
the present state of knowledge. The assump- 
tion is well founded if by "knowledge" is 
meant merely that which is possesesd by liv- 
ing human beings and derived solely from nor- 
mal sources. But if there be, in reality, cer- 
tain intelligences other than ordinary men and 
women, they may possibly be better informed 
with regard to the facts of the universe; and 
if intelligent communication be feasible as be- 
tween the better informed personalities and 
their cousins in this life, it is conceivable that 
some of the latter may thus acquire informa- 
tion which would otherwise be unattainable. 
This has actually happened with regard to 
gravitation. Sir William Crookes more than 
forty years ago entered into communication 
with supernormal intelligences and carried out 
certain laboratory experiments that showed 
the control and modification of gravity to lie 
within the compass of human ability when 
guided by the intelligences in question. And 
many more experiences of a similar or of an 



xii PREFACE 

analogous kind axe on record. The facts are 
well established and cannot be successfully de- 
nied or explained away. 

More recent researches have led to some 
elucidation of the knowledge at which discar- 
nate spirits have arrived with regard to gravi- 
tation. They hold that human science is crip- 
pled needlessly by its non-recognition of Mo- 
tion as being in itself an entity distinct from 
Mass. They hold that Matter is just as much 
a compound of Mass and Motion as common 
salt is a comlpound of sodium and chlorine. 
They contend further that gravitation is due 
to the fact that Motion, like heat, may, where 
human observation is concerned, exist in either 
a latent or a sensible form; and they assert the 
practicability of adding to or subtracting from 
the quantity of Motion in any given bulk of 
Matter. In proof of the truth of this assertion 
they point to the phenomena of what is, by 
psychical enquirers, called "levitation" — phe- 
nomena which have been observed and record- 
ed over and over again and may be seen by 
any person who takes the trouble to attend 
even an ordinary table-sitting. And they oc- 
casionally rally the human personalities with 
whom they are communicating upon the dull- 



PREFACE xiii 

ness of apprehension which has hitherto stood 
in the way of a broad induction from the myri- 
ad everyday facts of weight, coiled springs, 
drawn bows, artificial jumping frogs, jacks- 
in-boxes, closely touching billiard-balls in a 
row, projectiles at the moment of terminating 
their upward flight, cricket-balls at the mo- 
ment of meeting the stroke of the bat, and all 
other examples of latent and sensible Motion. 
These views entertained by spirits who have 
been spoken to on the subject have of late been 
borne out very markedly by Dr. Crawford's 
experiments, referred to in Chapter I of the 
present book. Dr. Crawford himself seems to 
be regarding his tests from the point of view of 
Mass alone and to be thinking that he is on the 
track of a new kind of Matter; but his results 
fit in still better with the long-established facts 
of levitation and with the new doctrine of Mo- 
tion that is fast being accepted in Progressive 
Circles. It is difficult to believe that a living 
woman can be deprived of a considerable por- 
tion of her Mass without sustaining serious 
physiological injury. It is also difficult to be- 
lieve that the removed Mass when laid on the 
floor or on the drawing-board can be invisible. 
But there is not any difficulty at all in sup- 



xiv PREFACE 

posing Motion to have been removed from the 
medium, the chair, the drawing-board and the 
platform, without any change of either visibil- 
ity or appearance in any of the entities con- 
cerned. When water at 70° Fahr. is cooled 
down to 50° Fahr. it loses a something we call 
heat, but the human eye cannot detect any dif- 
ference in the liquid. When a bowled cricket 
ball is arrested by the bat it loses a something 
we call sensible motion, but its outward ap- 
pearance remains unvaried. We need not 
therefore exppct a human body or a chair to 
look otherwise than as usual simply because it 
loses some or all of its latent Motion. 

That the knowledge here discussed may be 
applied practically and that material sub- 
stances may thus be rendered weightless and 
so removed from the influence of gravitation is 
not a mere theory. It is an actual fact: levi- 
tation occurs. What now remains to be done 
is to harness the acquired knowledge and ex- 
perience into the service of aerial navigation. 
Certain Progressive Circles are at work. 
Whether success will be achieved first by Dr. 
Crawford in his Goligher laboratory, or by 
Mr. Edison in his "spook factory" where the 
workmen agree to become recluses for a period 



PREFACE xv 

of many months, or by the capable director of 
the still more mysterious establishments in 
Florence where many a medium has been 
passed under review during the last two years, 
or by, haply, some other investigator of whom 
the present writer has not yet heard, is a matter 
that must for the time being be allowed to rest 
on the knees of the gods. What has already 
been accomplished in public and the remark- 
able advances now taking place privately are 
a sufficient answer to the question Cut bono? 
Speaking with the dead is a practice that is 
proving of benefit to England and the world 
at large. 

Sciens. 



HOW TO SPEAK WITH 
THE DEAD 



CHAPTER I 

DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 

If survival after what is called "death" be not 
a fact, the idea of communication with the dead 
becomes nonsensical. The first question, there- 
fore, that has to be asked in any consideration 
of the subject is — Do the Dead still live? This 
enquiry may be addressed both to Religion and 
to Science; and in both cases it will be found 
that an affirmative reply is given. 

So far as Religion is concerned the case is 
simple enough. It is a matter of common 
knowledge that nearly all the inhabitants of 
the world, including a great majority of its 
scientific men, accept and profess some form 
of religion. It is also a matter of common 
knowledge that all religions teach the doctrine 

l 



2 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

of survival; that is to say, they teach that in 
every individual human being there exists a 
soul which becomes separated from the body at 
death and continues to live on in some form 
of existence while the body decays. The be- 
lief, accordingly, of the great majority of man- 
kind is now, and always has been in historical 
times, that the answer "Yes" must be given 
to the question — Do the Dead still live? 

This is a hard fact that cannot be glossed 
over or explained away. Where a belief is 
practically unit ersal reasonable men may well 
infer that it is not altogether unfounded. Such 
an inference, however, falls a good deal short 
of actual proof; and when Religion is asked to 
supply such proof the response, though satis- 
factory enough to religious believers, is not ac- 
ceptable from a scientific point of view. The 
Bible, for example, and the sacred books of 
religions other than the Jewish and Christian 
faiths, contain an abundance of testimony to 
show that life after death is a reality; and his- 
tory in general, both ecclesiastical and secular, 
narrates many occurrences of such survival. 
The body of evidence thus available is equal in 
quantity and quality to that which is com- 
monly accepted as sufficient to establish histor- 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 3 

ical facts in general or cases in the law-courts 
in particular. 

But Science asks for something more than 
human testimony and records. It turns from 
fallible men to infallible Nature. The only 
truths which it will accept as proven are those 
revealed by the senses, by physical observa- 
tions and by actual experience. It demands 
also that every truth thus established shall be 
capable of confirmation by repeated experi- 
mental tests. What, therefore, has to be con- 
sidered in this chapter is whether survival after 
death is admitted by Science to be one of Na- 
ture's truths. 

Such an admission has already been made by 
many of the foremost leaders of Science in 
both past and present times. Sir Isaac New- 
ton, Faraday, Wallace, Crookes, Lodge, Bar- 
rett and other Fellows of the Royal Society 
were, or are, survivalists. Their judgment 
of the case is not to be lightly regarded; and 
by many reasonable men it is looked upon as 
conclusive. It is, however, assumed that the 
readers of these pages will not be content to 
have the matter settled by mere authority, even 
of the highest degree of eminence ; and as sci- 
entific men still exist who declare in lectures, 



4 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

speeches and books that the doctrine of sur- 
vival is a mistaken one, it becomes necessary 
to make the case clear by an appeal to fully 
recognised facts that no one, whether survival- 
ist or non~survivalist, can dispute. 

The first of these facts is that Science admits 
the existence of living individual personalities. 
When a man is made a Fellow of the Royal 
Society, or when a President of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science is 
elected, the choice falls upon more than a mere 
bulk of matter combined with a certain amount 
of force and energy. Added to these there is 
a something characterised by knowledge, 
memory, consciousness, will, conscience, moral- 
ity, a perception of good and evil, a capability 
of love and hatred, and all the other qualities 
that go to the making up of what people mean 
when they speak of a "soul." If "non-sur- 
vivalists" prefer to use some other word, well 
and good. Disputes about names are a mere 
beating of the air. What is of moment is that 
all parties are agreed as to the real existence 
of the something to which reference has here 
been made. 

The second fact is that Science admits the 
"soul" and body of a human being to be dis- 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 5 

tinct and separate entities, even though they 
may be closely associated. This is not so clear- 
ly obvious as the first fact; and some — though 
not many — scientists may feel disposed to 
challenge the accuracy of the assertion. It is 
necessary, therefore, to substantiate it in a de- 
tailed fashion. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that if 
a man's body be deprived of an arm, a leg, an 
eye, etc., the "soul" is not affected thereby in 
any essential way. Our hair may be shaved 
off, our nails cut, our teeth extracted, and our 
"souls" are none the worse for the operations. 
A lung may be put out of action by tubercu- 
losis and the "soul" lives on unaffected. A 
human being may be "apparently drowned" 
or may become entranced. His breathing may 
cease, his very heart may stop beating. The 
ordinary bodily mechanism by means of which 
the "soul" makes its presence known may 
cease to be operative, and — as actually hap- 
pens now and again — the individual may be so 
"dead" in the judgment of physicians that he 
or she is laid out for burial, aye, and is some- 
times buried in real earnest, while all the time 
the soul is as full of life as ever it was. Every 
person of education is aware that these are 



6 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

matters of frequent observation and experi- 
ence. They cannot be denied. They are not 
consistent with the idea of the existence of 
the "soul" being limited by the existence of 
the body. 

The case may be put even more strongly. In 
war it often happens that a man is shot through 
the arm in such a way that a part of a nerve 
controlling the muscles of certain fingers is 
destroyed. The fingers thereupon become 
paralysed ; but when a surgeon fills up the gap 
in the nerve by inserting a piece of nerve taken 
freshly from a ^slaughtered calf the brain finds 
itself once more able to send its messages to 
the muscles, and the man finds he can move his 
fingers. Absolute proof thus exists that the 
brain and the fingers are distinct and separate 
entities; and it would be utterly unscientific 
to infer that the observed paralysis indicates 
necessarily any disappearance of, or change in, 
the brain. What really occurs is merely that 
the brain is deprived, for the time being, of 
one of the tools it is in the habit of using for 
the purpose of exercising its authority over the 
body. 

Consider, too, what takes place when a man 
has a "stroke," as it is termed — an apoplectic 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 7 

fit, the breaking of a small blood-vessel in the 
brain. The exuded blood forms a clot which 
presses upon some of the brain-cells and inter- 
feres with the normality of their action. In 
some cases the cells affected are those that 
influence the organs of speech. The man be- 
comes dumb or cannot pronounce correctly. 
He has the will to speak in his ordinary man- 
ner and he makes desperate efforts to do so. 
These remain unavailing until the blood-clot 
becomes absorbed and ceases to interfere with 
the brain-cells ; and then the man's will is once 
more able to exert its authority over the lat- 
ter, which, in their turn, are once more able 
to organise and send forward the desired im- 
pulses to the tongue, lips, etc. Absolute proof 
thus exists that the will and the brain are dis- 
tinct and separate entities ; and it would be ut- 
terly unscientific to infer that the observed 
pressure on, and paralysis of, the brain-cells 
indicates any disappearance of, or change in, 
the will. 

But the will is comprised in the something 
that is commonly called the "soul." We see, 
then, that the existence of the soul and body 
as distinct and separate entities is admitted 



8 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

by Science and demonstrated by the everyday 
experience of mankind. 

It is desirable, however, to add a word or 
two respecting a phrase and an idea correlated 
thereto which have long exercised a mischiev- 
ous influence in psychics and psychology. The 
phrase is that "thought may possibly be a se- 
cretion of the brain." The idea is that although 
body and mind (or soul) are separate entities 
neither of them can exist separately from the 
other. 

To speak of thought as a secretion of the 
brain is to misuse the word "secretion" and 
to render it meaningless, in which case the 
famous phrase becomes nonsensical. A secre- 
tion is a material substance organised from, 
and by, some other, parent, material substance. 
It belongs to the domain of physics and can 
be expressed in terms of statics and dynamics. 
Nothing of all this is possible with regard to 
thought, which belongs to the domain of meta- 
physics and is immaterial. To speak of some- 
thing immaterial being organised from some- 
thing material is an abuse of language, and 
reduces discussion to an idle jangle of articu- 
late sounds. 

There is not anything similarly nonsensical 



J 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 9 

in the idea of body and soul being interdepend- 
ent entities. The question is one of simple fact 
and observation. It is a matter of common 
knowledge that human bodies continue to exist 
long after their separation from the something 
that is called "soul." This continued existence 
may even be unaccompanied (as in the case of 
mummies) by ordinary decay, and in some 
cases may involve a prolongation of partial 
vitality, such as, for instance, the well-known 
phenomenon of the growth of hair and nails 
after "death." But that the soul has ceased 
to be united as before with the body is, in all 
cases, a matter of certainty. Hence the idea 
now being discussed obviously requires amend- 
ment. It is not permissible to say that body 
is perpetually dependent upon soul. And the 
question remains whether it is permissible to 
say that the existence of an individual soul is 
dependent upon its remaining attached to the 
body it accompanied during life. 

This leads to the third of the facts to be 
considered — the fact, namely, that Science ad- 
mits the possibility of "souls" continuing to 
exist when detached from the bodies with 
which they are usually associated. The word 
"detached" does not mean necessarily separa- 



10 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

tion by any considerable interval of space, or 
the complete absence of every means of com- 
munication. A man who speaks and a man 
who hears are spoken of as being detached 
from each other notwithstanding that they 
are connected together by a sound-conveying 
atmosphere. Bricks stacked in a pile are de- 
tached separate entities even though, in pop- 
ular language, they are said to be "touching" 
one another. So, in the case of a paralysed 
man, the affected portion of his brain is no 
longer under the control of his will, and to that 
extent there ^s a severance of his body from his 
soul; while in cases of complete trance the de- 
tachment in question extends to the entire ma- 
terial organism, and also to the entire psy- 
chical entity. The soul becomes, for the time 
being, wholly separated from the body, which 
no longer is actuated by consciousness, sensa- 
tion, memory, thought or volition. All that 
serves to distinguish the state of things from 
"death" is the absence of bodily decomposi- 
tion, together with one or two other physical 
peculiarities, such as the response of the 
muscles to electrical excitement and the oph- 
thalmoscopic appearances of the fundus oculi. 
Yet, when the trance comes to an end, the 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 11 

normal intimate association of soul and body 
is resumed, and both soul and body are found 
to be unchanged. 

Now, this is a matter of common knowledge 
among educated persons and has often been 
made a subject of scientific observation. It 
proves, clearly enough, that souls can exist in- 
dependently of material bodies ; and the proof 
will not be disputed by any man of science 
who is concerned to speak of things as they are, 
and who uses words in their ordinary plain 
meaning and not for the purpose of dialectical 
subtleties. 

Trance, however, is not the only form of 
separate soul-existence that comes within the 
range of human experience, A very much 
more common occurrence is that of sleep. Here 
the scientist will hesitate a little before making 
any admission. The view now taken by Sci- 
ence of sleep is that the phenomenon is "a nat- 
ural condition of insensibility, more or less 
complete, recurring normally (for the adult) 
with each night," and further, that "the cause 
of sleep is undetermined, but is supposed to 
depend upon the production of sedative agents 
during our waking activities which ultimately 
clog the higher functions of the brain." It 



12 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

is also held that "in natural deep sleep all the 
higher brain-centres are more or less out of 
action, together with the senses of sight, touch, 
taste, smell and hearing, though in varying de- 
grees." And, with regard to dreaming, the 
explanation given is that "the gradual passing 
of the higher nerve-centres — i.e. the highest 
centres of the cerebral matter — from normal to 
subnormal activity, or rest, removes from the 
lower centres a certain inhibition, and these 
respond more readily both to external stimuli 
and to altered internal stimuli or tension of 
the blood-vessels. Accompanying this func- 
tional dissolution of the higher centres there 
is, in varying degrees, dissociation of con- 
sciousness or obstructed association. . . . The 
result of such dissociation is interference with 
judgment, resulting in false perception, illu- 
sion, hallucination and perpetually altering 
variations of these." 

What is meant by the phrase "dissociation of 
consciousness"? It cannot very well signify 
anything other than that consciousness during 
sleep becomes detached from the brain, some- 
times to a partial extent and sometimes com- 
pletely. This is the same thing as saying that 
soul is found by universal experience to exist, 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 13 

time and again, in a state of independence. To 
that extent the scientific view is well-founded 
and acceptable. When, however, dreams are 
stated to be nothing more than mere physical 
states of the lower brain-centres a doubt 
creeps in. Dreams are not material. They 
are intangible thoughts and belong to the do- 
main of consciousness. Where the "removal 
of a certain inhibition from the lower centres'' 
comes in is by way of explaining that owing 
to temporary physical conditions attending 
sleep, various brain-cells are out of gear, as 
it were, and work irregularly — the case being 
analogous to that of the man who is dumb or 
speaks badly owing to a blood-clot in his brain. 
But at the back of the fantastic or imperfect 
appearance are the Consciousness and other 
elements of the soul marshalled in regular co- 
ordination. It is more probable, therefore, 
that dreams are distortions of realities per- 
ceived by the soul than that they originate in 
disordered cerebral matter. 

We see, then, that Science is faced by, and 
admits, three fundamental facts, namely — 

1. The existence, in this world, of human 
souls as well as human bodies. 



U HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

2. The existence of such souls and bodies as 

separate entities, 

3. The possibility of souls continuing to 

exist when separated from human 
bodies. 

What has next to be considered is whether 
such separate existence is limited to the case of 
temporary detachment during the life of the 
body, or whether it is also possible when the 
separation is brought about by "death/' 

Reasoning^ by analogy may not be tanta- 
mount to direct proof ; but it is, none the less, 
cogent. When we reflect that the loss of an 
arm, a leg, etc., is really the happening of 
death to the missing parts of the body and yet 
that the soul is not thereby affected we are 
entitled to infer that the loss of the rest of 
the body will leave the soul unscathed. And 
when we add the reflection that in cases of 
trance, apparent drowning, deep sleep, etc., 
the whole body is detached from the soul — a 
separation that occasionally lasts many days 
or weeks— the inference is greatly strength- 
ened. Everyone knows, moreover, that in 
many instances of natural death the soul re- 
mains in vigorous existence right up to the mo- 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 15 

ment of dissolution; and where death occurs 
from external causes, as in warfare, both body 
and soul maintain their full normality until 
the stroke of Fate has been dealt. Why, then, 
should it be assumed that the soul ceases sud- 
denly to exist? The body is seen to continue, 
and, as regards its matter, to be imperishable. 
The soul is not seen; but as it never had been 
seen, though known to exist, during life, no 
reason can be assigned for expecting it to be 
visible at death. Not even the flimsiest foun- 
dation can be discovered for the doctrine of 
non-survival, which is merely the arbitrary as- 
sertion of a most patent improbability. It is, 
therefore, unscientific in the highest degree. 

In addition, however, to this analogical ar- 
gument, which most scientific men regard as 
conclusive, there exists a solid basis of scien- 
tifically observed facts demonstrating very 
clearly the survival of souls after death. The 
facts, it is true, are psychical rather than phys- 
ical; but this does not impair their validity. 
Modern men of science are beginning to re- 
gard matter, force and energy as less im- 
portant in the scheme of the universe than are 
the entities that cannot be expressed in 
dynamical terms; and the biologists are fast 



16 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

conceding priority to will and conscious pur- 
pose over the hitherto accepted supreme au- 
thority of Evolutionary Life. Still, the obser- 
vations above alluded to are in part of a phys- 
ical character and have been made within the 
sacred precincts of scientific laboratories. 

Dealing first with the latter, it suffices, by 
way of example, to mention the researches con- 
ducted by Mr. W. J. Crawford, D.Sc, a gen- 
tleman who is Lecturer in Mechanical Engi- 
neering in the Belfast Municipal Technical 
Institute, Extra-Mural Lecturer in Mechan- 
ical Engineering in the Queen's University of 
Belfast, etc. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge in scientific circles, and to a large extent 
in popular circles as well, that he has, with re- 
spect to the "survival" question, carried out a 
series of experiments and tests under the most 
rigid conditions for ensuring accuracy of ob- 
servation and correctness of results — experi- 
ments and tests that have been witnessed by 
competent persons and carefully recorded in a 
manner to which no valid exception can be 
taken. In the ordinary way of scientific work 
the conclusions arrived at by such a trained 
and eminently well-qualified observer would 
be assented to by the scientific world as a mat- 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? IT 

ter of course; and such assent should not be 
withheld merely because the field of investiga- 
tion lay outside the beaten tracks of Science. 

Dr. Crawford's observations and experi- 
ments are of quite recent date. They have im- 
pressed greatly the scientific world. They are 
regarded as proving the existence of the "in- 
visible intelligent beings" mentioned by Sir 
William Crookes in 1874, and as also proving 
that these beings are encountered and com- 
municated with here in this world. But the 
knowledge of the work done by Dr. Crawford 
is not yet very widely spread, and it is quite 
possible that many scientific men as well as a 
good portion of the public at large are still 
unacquainted with its character and the re- 
sults attained. It may be well, therefore, to 
cite an illustrative instance of one of the meth- 
ods employed. This is done in the scientist's 
own words : — 

"A drawing-board was placed on the platform 
of a weighing-machine and a chair was placed on 
the top of the board. The medium (Miss Goligher) 
sat on the chair, with her feet resting on the board. 

"Experiment 1. — I said to the operators [i.e. to 
the spirits], 'You say the levitating cantilever con- 
tains matter from the body of the medium. I want 



18 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

you to take out from her body the matter you use 
in the construction of the cantilever you employ to 
levitate this table (weight 12*4 lbs.) and to place 
this matter loosely on the floor — not to build up 
the cantilever but simply to place the matter re- 
quired for it on the floor. Give three raps when 
you have done this.' 

"The medium's weight began to decrease and in 
a few seconds became fairly steady. Then I heard 
the three raps, signifying that the operation was 
complete, 

\ Result : 

Weight of medium -f- chair -f- 

board, before the experiment - 9 st. 12^/2 lbs. 
Fairly steady weight of medium 

+ chair + board, after the raps 

were given - - - - 8 st. 10^ lbs. 

Decrease in weight of medium - st. 16 lbs. 

"It is noteworthy that when I carried out the 
same test about eighteen months previously, I ob- 
tained the same result within a pound or two. (See 
'Reality of Psychic Phenomena,' Experiment 63, p. 
142.) 

"Experiment 2. — I asked the operators to put the 
matter they said they abstracted in Experiment 1, 
not on the floor but on the drawing-board under the 
medium's chair (the drawing-board was resting on 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 19 

the platform of the weighing-machine). They gave 
three raps when the operation was complete. 

Result : 

"The medium's weight showed no difference from 
her normal of 9 st. 12^ lbs. 

"This, of course, is as it should be, as any actual 
matter taken from her body and placed on the draw- 
ing-board would still be accounted for by the weigh- 
ing-machine, provided that such matter was acted 
upon by gravity in the normal way." 

Here, as is obvious, was a laboratory experi- 
ment of the simplest nature and not open to 
any doubt or cavil. It was a mere weighing 
operation to determine whether any loss of 
weight took place in the material objects on 
the platform of the machine. The medium, 
as a person, did not enter into the problem at 
all. It was not a question of her good faith 
any more than it was the question of the good 
faith of the chair or the drawing-board. Nor 
was it the case of a phenomenon occurring in 
darkness or under conditions that rendered 
close observation difficult; while, as for Dr. 
Crawford himself, it will not be contended that 
he was incompetent to read the indications of 



20 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

the machine or to report them correctly. Yet 
his spoken instructions to something invisible 
and intangible were followed by results that 
indicated intelligent hearing and careful obe- 
dience. To deny that this was strict scientific 
proof of the presence in Dr. Crawford's lab- 
oratory of some kind of consciousness, percep- 
tion and will — i.e. of some "soul" — that was 
separate and distinct from any soul in normal 
association with a human body would be to 
speak as perversely as though one were to deny 
that two and t^o make four. 

So much for the physical category of the 
observations that have been made in the scien- 
tific world respecting survival after death. We 
can now turn to the psychical category. 

The investigations in this direction have 
been carried on for so many years and by so 
many observers, both scientific and lay, that a 
vast mass of material has accumulated in the 
shape of evidence which, for the greater part, 
is in favour of an affirmative answer being 
given to the question — Do the Dead still live? 
None of the evidence is, in fact, suggestive of 
a negative reply; but some is not of a trust- 
worthy character, while in other cases the 
requisite corroboration is lacking. This is a 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 21 

trap for the unwary of both schools of thought 
— the sceptical and the credulous. The former 
are struck by instances of fraud, deceit and 
ignorant gullibility; and they neglect to con- 
sider and weigh what is brought forward of a 
serious and genuine character. The latter are 
carried away by their emotions and wishes, and 
prefer the sensational rubbish to the calm and 
balanced testimony of honest and careful ob- 
servers. 

A typical collection of the evidence here re- 
ferred to — good, bad and indifferent — is to be 
found in the pages of "Raymond," the recent- 
ly published book written by Sir Oliver Lodge, 
F.R.S. The author, who has for very many 
years been an eminent investigator of psy- 
chical phenomena, in addition to having at- 
tained the highest rank in the scientific world 
in respect of his electrical and other work, was 
afflicted by the loss of a son, Raymond, in the 
Great War, and, in accordance with what he 
considered to be possible, he endeavoured to 
open up communication with the discarnate 
spirit of the deceased young man. He de- 
scribes his experiments and their result in the 
book he has written. He does not hesitate to 
reject much of what he observed as being "non- 



22 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

sense/' and a good deal more he describes as 
"unverifiable" and doubtful. But he also 
brings forward an abundance of what he 
terms "evidential matter," which he deems to 
be genuine and convincing — a conclusion fully 
accepted by serious readers who are not 
swayed by prejudice. He makes many ref- 
erences to what has been done by other investi- 
gators, and he expresses himself on the general 
question as follows: — 

"However it be accomplished, and whatever re- 
ception the preseint-day scientific world may give to 
the assertion, there are many now who know, by 
first-hand experience, that communication is possible 
across the boundary — if there is a boundary — be- 
tween the world apprehended by our few animal-de- 
rived senses and the larger existence concerning 
which our knowledge is still more limited. Com- 
munication is not easy, but it occurs. . . . The 
more recent development of an elaborate scheme of 
cross-correspondence entered upon since the death of 
specially experienced and critical investigators of 
the Society for Psychical Research, who were fa- 
miliar with all these difficulties, and who have taken 
strong and most ingenious means to overcome them, 
has made the proof, already very strong, now al- 
most crucial. . . . The chief thing that the episode 
establishes, to my mind, and a thing that was worth 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 23 

establishing, is the genuine character of the simple 
domestic sittings, without a medium, which are oc- 
casionally held by the family circle at Mariemont. 
For it is through these chiefly that Raymond re- 
mains as much a member of the family group as 
ever. ... In the old days, if I sat with a medium, 
I was never told of any serious imaginary bereave- 
ment which had befallen myself — beyond the natural 
and inevitable losses from an older generation which 
fall to the lot of every son of man. But now if I, 
or any member of my family, goes anonymously to 
a genuine medium, giving not the slightest normal 
clue, my son is quickly to the fore and continues his 
clear and convincing series of evidences ; sometimes 
giving testimony of a critically selected kind, some- 
times contenting himself with friendly family chaff 
and reminiscences, but always acting in a manner 
consistent with his personality and memories and 
varying moods. ... In every way he has shown 
himself anxious to give convincing evidence. More- 
over, he wants me to speak out; and I shall. I am 
as convinced of continued existence, on the other 
side of death, as I am of existence here. 5 ' 

These personal utterances represent much 
more than the opinion of a single individual. 
They are in effect a summary of what has been 
established by the laborious investigations of 
many hundreds of educated and capable en- 



24 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

quirers — including highly-honoured leaders of 
science — during the last half-century. The 
Society of Psychical Research, for example — 
mentioned by Sir Oliver Lodge — comprises, 
and has comprised, many of the foremost sci- 
entists and philosophical thinkers of England, 
America, France, Italy and other countries. 
It entered upon the investigation and study of 
psychical phenomena from a strictly scientific 
point of view, without any tendency to be 
guided by religious teachings and desirous of 
stamping out the influence of so-called Spirit- 
ualism upon public credulity. Its work was 
conducted with the utmost care and caution in 
every detail. Its Reports from year to year 
were welcomed as sound and trustworthy text- 
books in a little-known region of science. They 
are collections of demonstrated facts rather 
than the presentation of inferences and specu- 
lative views. So when it is found that the fore- 
most psychologists and psychical investigators 
work in harmony with the results attained by 
the Society for Psychical Research, and that 
the conclusions announced by authorities like 
Sir Oliver Lodge are largely based upon such 
results, the case for the acceptance of these 
conclusions becomes very strong indeed, 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 25 

It has now been proved beyond all possibil- 
ity of reasonable refutation that both Religion 
and Science answer "Yes" when they are asked 
the question — Do the Dead still live? 

There is an allied question which should not 
be altogether ignored. Euclid sometimes 
proves a proposition by showing that its denial 
necessarily involves an absurdity. In like 
manner we may ask whether the denial of the 
proposition that souls live on after death drives 
us into a position that the common sense and 
conscience of mankind know to be untenable. 

If this life be the whole measure of the ex- 
istence of a soul, if birth mean its beginning 
and death its end, the something that is called 
"soul" is seen to be merely a temporary eva- 
nescent affection of the matter that consti- 
tutes the body. But it is an abuse of language 
to speak of matter as being either morally good 
or morally bad. Even if it be admitted that 
matter can live and be endowed with conscious- 
ness and volition, there would still be a mani- 
fest absurdity in attributing to it a knowledge 
of good and evil. It follows, therefore, that 
any person who is a thorough-going material- 
ist is logically debarred from speaking of good- 
ness, benevolence, honour, integrity, charity, 



26 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

truth, piety, patriotism, profligacy, fraud, 
crime or wickedness. The masses of matter 
to which he gives the name "human beings" 
are non-moral just as much as his table or his 
boots. He talks nonsense when he praises 
them for acting in a manner which he calls 
"right," or when he blames them for acting in 
a manner which he calls "wrong." Nor is the 
case bettered by conceding that "good con- 
duct" may be beneficial and "bad conduct" 
harmful to the mass of matter in action, and 
may therefore* in an analogical way, be de- 
scribed as meriting commendation and reproof 
respectively. The mass of matter will know 
well enough that success, prosperity and 
worldly enjoyment are attained much more 
frequently by bad men than by the righteous, 
and he will laugh at the idea of a satisfied 
conscience being preferred to a satisfied body. 
He will know that when death comes the good 
will not be any better off than the bad — they 
will both be annihilated — and he will also know 
that during life the bad are much better off 
than the good. Does this doctrine commend it- 
self to any sane man? Does any leader of sci- 
ence exist who will say deliberately that he re- 



DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? 27 

pudiates the doctrine of right and wrong? If 
he will not say this he must not say that souls 
are merely appurtenances of bodies and cease 
to exist after death. 



CHAPTER II 



SOUL AND LIFE 



The phrase that the dead still live does not 
mean the same thing as when it is said that a 
human body lives. In the former ease the 
word "live" merely means "exist"; in the latter 
the word "lives" connotes, together with the 
idea of existence, a particular concrete form 
of living which is differentiated markedly from 
"living" in the abstract. This distinction is 
frequently overlooked, and as the oversight 
leads to much confusion of thought and lies 
at the root of much of the opposition that is 
here and there offered to the doctrine of "sur- 
vival," it seems well to devote a few pages to 
its discussion. 

The "life" that is found in human bodies 
and throughout the organic world is imper- 
sonal. It is material, or, rather, physical, in 
the sense that it has not any existence apart 
from the organic matter of which it constitutes 
an affection or attribute. The case is analo- 

28 



SOUL AND LIFE 29 

gous to that of gravitation. According to the 
accepted Newtonian philosophy every particle 
of matter in the universe attracts, and is at- 
tracted by, every other particle: it gravitates: 
it is ponderable. But there is no such thing as 
gravitation per se> though there may be an 
entity that causes gravitation. It is conveni- 
ent, for the purposes of language and the 
orderly expression of thought, to speak of it 
separately, just as colour, temperature, illumi- 
nation, form, structure and other affections are 
referred to ; the understanding, however, being 
always that they are not in themselves entities 
and are not characterised by anything in the 
nature of self -existence. 

Science does not at present hold that life is 
an attribute of all matter. Minerals and other 
forms of what is called inorganic matter are 
considered to be devoid of life, and the same 
destitution is asserted with respect to "dead," 
"inanimate" organic matter. Life is met with 
only in "living," "animate" organic matter; 
just as crystallisation is found only in "crystal- 
line" and not in "amorphous" matter; and — to 
pursue the simile — it may be pointed out that 
the same matter which is crystalline under some 
conditions becomes amorphous under others, 



30 HOW TO SPEAE WITH THE DEAD 

as in the case of carbon, which is sometimes 
diamond and sometimes charcoal. In like man- 
ner living matter may change into dead mat- 
ter — a change which is called "death"; and 
dead matter may change into living matter, 
as, for example, when food is assimilated by 
animals and vegetables. 

The true nature of the "life" met with in 
living organic matter is not yet understood. 
Modern science has shown, indisputably, that 
the doctrine of the conservation of energy ap- 
plies without ikiodification to living beings just 
as much as to inanimate substances. The idea 
of there being any specific "vital force," "vital 
material" or "vital energy" has long ago been 
abandoned. All the particular phenomena ob- 
served by morphologists, physiologists, embry- 
ologists, palaeontologists and setiologists— i.e. 
by the whole world of biologists — can be satis- 
factorily explained in terms of chemistry, 
physical force, energy and dynamics. But bi- 
ology cannot as yet give an equally clear ac- 
count of the co-ordinated vitality of anything 
that lives. It cannot even state the how and 
why of the simplest unicellular organism. "We 
are forced," says a leading authority, "to the 
conclusion that a living organism is a partic- 



SOUL AND LIFE 31 

ular synthesis of matter and energy, the secret 
of whose organisation remains hidden/' 

We know, however, that life displays the 
same kind of uniformity that characterises 
heat, light, motion and other imponderables. 
The something that appears as the temperature 
of boiling water is similar in all respects to the 
something that appears as the equal tempera- 
ture of hot oil and can be interchanged there- 
with. Indeed, the fundamental Theory of Ex- 
changes upon which a great part of thermo- 
dynamics is based depends for its validity on 
the absence of any distinction between the 
heats of various masses of matter. The only 
variation of heat is that of degree : the kind is 
always the same; heat never becomes individ- 
ualised. This is seen by everyday observation 
to be equally true of life, and is frequently 
demonstrated by specific experiment. Graft- 
ing, for example, whether it consist in the 
union of a scion of one tree with the stock of 
another, or whether it take the form of trans- 
ferring a piece of John Smith's skin to a flayed 
part of Robert Green's arm, is the migration 
of a vitality that remains unchanged in spite 
of the change of environment and that inter- 
mingles harmoniously and homogeneously with 



82 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

the vitality of its new abode. Neither the in- 
dividualities of the two trees nor the personali- 
ties of the two men appear in, or accompany, 
their stocks of "life" any more than they are 
to be found in their stocks of heat or weight. 
The various stocks may be more or less abun- 
dant in quantity, but they do not differ in kind. 
We know also that life is capable of indefi- 
nite increase by reproduction, provided only 
that the means of sustenance be available. A 
single pair of rabbits, for instance, if allowed 
to breed unchecked and not killed off, will, in a 
comparatively short time, become represented 
by two millions of similar animals. This 
means, of course, that the quantity of "life" 
corresponding to two rabbits has been aug- 
mented a million-fold. The increase has not 
been derived from the food consumed, the to- 
tal amount of which is accounted for by the 
bodies and excreta of the conies. A similar 
phenomenon is observable throughout the 
whole sum of living beings, whether human, 
"animal" or vegetable. It distinguishes "life" 
very effectually from matter and energy, both 
of which are, by the doctrine of conservation, 
as incapable of increase as of decrease. The 
only hypothesis that appears possible by way 



SOUL AND LIFE 33 

of explanation is to hold that "life" is one of 
the protean modes of energy in the same way 
that heat is understood (by those persons who 
are content to accept the Baconian, and mod- 
ern scientific view) to be a mode of motion. 
This hypothesis, however, does not rest on any 
secure foundation. The only energy that is 
known to be practically available for transmu- 
tation into life is heat (light and electricity 
seem to be negligible) ; and reproduction, 
which often takes place on a very large scale, 
has never been observed to involve the absorp- 
tion and disappearance of heat. 

Again, we know by observation and experi- 
ment that the function of "life" is to organise 
matter ; that is to say, to arrange material par- 
ticles into differentiated groups and aggre- 
gates marked by varying complexities of com- 
position suitable for certain specific actions. 
It is sometimes contended that this systematic 
co-ordination and apparent display of purpose 
is to be found also in the inanimate world. The 
phenomenon of crystallisation, for example, is 
here and there regarded as an instance of life. 
It is attended by growth. It exhibits both dif- 
ferentiation and integration, becoming on the 
one hand more complex and on the other more 



U HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

unified. Lost parts are seen to be regenerated. 
Some degree of adjustment to surroundings 
is noticeable; and reproduction may even be 
said to occur to some extent. But when the 
crystal is formed it does not differ, either in 
substance or in function, from the raw material 
out of which it has been constructed. It re- 
mains inert and destitute of any approach to 
vitality. It may be destroyed by crushing, 
fusion, solution: it never "dies," To speak of 
it as being a living creature is, therefore, inept. 
If, however, great importance be still at- 
tached to the (occasional regenerations and re- 
productions observed in the case of inanimate 
matter, it should be borne in mind that these 
differ very greatly from the corresponding 
phenomena where life is concerned. The re- 
pairs effected by chemical affinity and other 
non-vital influences are limited to restoration 
and replacement without alteration of struc- 
ture or change of adaptation; and where re- 
production takes place it is limited to repeti- 
tion. Very different results are met with when 
Life is in control. Take any "horny-handed 
son of toil." The skin of his hands when he 
was a child and until he began to work was 
soft and tender. It became injured by fric- 



SOUL AND LIFE 35 

tion, pressure and the like. It needed repair; 
and then Life, instead of renewing the soft- 
ness, gradually developed a condition of 
toughness and callosity which served as a safe- 
guard against further injury. Such facts as 
these— and a vast number are known to Sci- 
ence — conclusively establish the essential dif- 
ference that exists between living matter and 
matter that is not invested with vitality. 

Then, too, we know that Life is not charac- 
terised by consciousness. This is clearly evi- 
dent in the cases of seeds and eggs which are 
most assuredly composed of living matter. But 
it is also just as obvious in fully matured hu- 
man beings if careful consideration be given 
to all the facts involved. A man's bones, for 
example, are endowed with life; but no one 
suggests or contends that they are character- 
ised by consciousness. The same thing is true 
of his hair, his nails, his flesh, his blood. His 
eyes and ears and other organs of sense are 
mere receiving and transmitting apparatus, 
and are not in themselves conscious. Hence 
by far the greater part of the life that enters 
into the composition of a living human be- 
ing is devoid of consciousness. And when the 
brain is taken into account the situation is not 



36 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

changed. Cerebral matter is, like the sensory 
mechanism, a mere piece of apparatus, a gram- 
ophone, as it were, which, in a certain sense 
of the words, may be said to hear and to speak, 
but which has not any inner consciousness of 
what goes on. 

This view, which no man of science will con- 
test, and which is a tenet of modern natural 
philosophy, is established by the everyday ex- 
perience of every man. Not only does he know 
that his bones, hair, blood, etc., are not con- 
scious entities,) though they are full of life; he 
also knows that he remains as alive as ever dur- 
ing his sleep, which is frequently dreamless and 
free from all indications of consciousness. He 
knows that chloroform and other anaesthetics 
are constantly employed on thousands of oc- 
casions with resulting insensibility and uncon- 
sciousness, but with no difference in the life 
that animates the bodies of the persons oper- 
ated upon. He knows that a man may be 
stunned by a severe blow on the head and 
may become, for the time being, bereft of con- 
sciousness while still retaining his full vitality. 
The truth of the matter, in fact, is so plain as 
not to be open to any serious discussion, even 
though, as is the case with every doctrine un- 



SOUL AND LIFE 37 

der the sun, it may in appearance be argued 
about in words and phrases that are ingenious- 
ly diverted from their normal meanings. 

It is furthermore to be borne in mind that 
Life has not any conscience and is utterly non- 
moral. From a strictly scientific point of view 
this is not a matter of any consequence; for 
Science is concerned merely with existence qua 
existence and disregards the whole subject of 
ethical good and evil. Scientific men, how- 
ever, have consciences and the knowledge of 
right and wrong, and are able, whenever they 
may feel so disposed, to judge of Life from 
the moral point of view. They see, for ex- 
ample, that the vitality of a living human be- 
ing is just as active, efficient and exquisitely 
adaptative in the development of a painful 
disease as in the production of enjoyable 
health. They see that the fatal microbe is fos- 
tered and sent on its murderous way rejoicing, 
just as much as the phagocytes (the "blood 
scavengers 55 ) and other defensive organisms 
are in like manner protected and caused to 
multiply. The cow is made to yield milk, while 
the cobra is equally aided to prepare a store of 
deadly poison. The bee is set to the beneficent 
work of honey-making; and the mosquito is 



38 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

granted a letter-of-marque for the dissemina- 
tion of malaria. Everywhere in nature the 
same blindness to moral considerations and the 
same absence of ethical purpose are met with 
in the activities of Life. 

The question of how Life originates should 
also receive attention. Modern science rejects 
the idea of its being derived from inanimate 
matter or from any combination of matter with 
physical force or energy. The experiments of 
the late Dr. H. Charlton Bastian, F.R.S., and 
others with respect to the demonstration of 
"spontaneous generation" are held to be in- 
validated by various sources of error; and the 
almost unanimous verdict of the scientific 
world is that every occurrence of life proceeds 
from some antecedent, parent, life. This doc- 
trine involves naturally the referring back of 
the entire amount of life now existing in the 
world to a long line of ancestry. And as Sci- 
ence teaches furthermore that a time did once 
exist when the world was altogether inorganic 
and inanimate, there emerges the problem of 
when and how Life made its first appearance 
on this mundane sphere. This problem is, as 
yet, insoluble; and, faute de mieuoo, certain 
scientists as, for example, Helmholz, Tyndall 



SOUL AND LIFE 39 

and Lord Kelvin have found themselves re- 
duced to the necessity of suggesting that pos- 
sibly the first specimen of life on the earth was 
introduced in the form of some organism borne 
hither by a meteorite. But such a suggestion 
does not solve the problem of Life; it merely 
throws back the solution by yet another stage. 
And in the meantime the remarks already made 
in the present chapter with regard to the capac- 
ity of indefinite increase displayed by Life are 
emphasised and confirmed in a prodigious de- 
gree. It is surely a most marvellous thing that 
the whole vast volume of existing life should 
be the product of some minute primordial 
quantity without there ever having been added 
any growth-material from the outside. This 
difficulty was felt by Dr. Bastian and his fel- 
low-experimenters; and even the stoutest up- 
holders of Harvey's doctrine, omne vivum ex 
ovo, as, for instance, Huxley, Haeckel, Nageli, 
Pfliiger and Ray Lankester have not hesitated 
to admit the possibility of protoplasm having 
been synthetically derived from inanimate 
matter at some early period of the earth's his- 
tory, when physical conditions were very dif- 
ferent from those of the present time and when 
so many things were "in the making." Some 



i 



40 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

scientists, indeed, hold that heterogenesis may 
even now be taking place in localities or under 
circumstances that are shielded from observa- 
tion; and others, basing their judgment upon 
the triumphs of modern chemistry in the syn- 
thesis of sugar, indigo, alizarine, urea and 
other organic substances, think it probable that 
men may yet succeed in putting together a 
combination of matter that shall exhibit vital- 
ity as one of its attributes. The bearing of all 
this upon the problems dealt with in the pres- 
ent volume consists, of course, in the support 
given to the essentially physical and non-psy- 
chical nature of Life. 

If a comparison be now made between what 
has here been stated with regard to Life and 
what was stated in Chapter I with regard to 
Soul, we shall find ourselves in presence of 
certain marked contrasts as follows: 

LIFE SOUL 

1. Is impersonal. It has 1. Is personal. Individual 
not any individualities or souls exist as separate enti- 
idiosyncrasies. ties and each has its own dis- 
tinguishing character. 

2. Is homogeneous. It is 2. Is heterogeneous. Souls 
divisible into separate por- are distinct from each other 
tions only in the same sense and do not coalesce. 

that the same is true of heat, 



SOUL AND LIFE 



41 



LIFE {continued) 



SOUL (continued), 



light, electricity, and other 
forms of physical energy. 
These various parcels coa- 
lesce when brought into con- 
tact with each other and form 
a whole that is uniform with- 
out any differentiation. 

3. Is the organiser of mat- 
ter and the controlling in- 
fluence that determines the 
morphology, physiology, em- 
bryology, palaeontology and 
aetiology of the organisms 
produced. 

4. Is non-conscious, non- 
sensory and incapable of 

thought or memory. 

5. Is non-moral. It is con- 
scienceless without any 
knowledge of good and evil. 
Its functions are performed 
mechanically without any re- 
gard to what results may en- 
sue. 

6. Is capable of indefinite 
increase by reproduction. It 
may possibly be originated by 
a particular grouping of ma- 
terial atoms in combination 
with particular physical 
forces and under particular 
physical conditions. 



3. Is the employer of the 
organs formed by Life. 



4. Is conscious, perceptive, 
sensitive, emotional, intelli- 
gent, thinking, and mnemonic. 

5. Is characterised by voli- 
tion, accompanied by a full 
understanding of good and 
evil. It is capable of acting 
rightly and wrongly and of 
appreciating the results of 
its actions. 

6. Is incapable of repro- 
duction. Each individual soul 
is a self-contained, self-suf- 
ficing, self-continuing entity 
that has not originated from 
any other soul or from any 
matter of physical force. 



/ 



42 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

These contrasts necessitate a duality of sig- 
nification of the word "death." When the death 
of an organic being is spoken of, the phrase 
implies that the matter of which it is composed 
has lost its attribute of vitality (an analogous 
case being the reduction of the temperature 
of a body to absolute zero). And where the 
organic being is a member of the human race 
(the question of the souls of animals and veg- 
etables does not lie within the scope of this 
book) the phrase also implies that the soul 
and body have become separated so completely 
as to terminate the employment of the latter 
by the former. 

The very pith of the arguments that are 
sometimes advanced against the idea of "sur- 
vival" is to be found in this double meaning of 
the word "death." When the belief is asserted 
that "death is the end" and that there is not 
any "future life," the statements are reason- 
able and well-founded if regard be had solely 
to the phenomena of Life and to the relations 
of Life with the body. The knight who con- 
tended that the shield was of silver maintained 
a true enough view ; as also did the knight who 
advanced from the opposite direction and, hav- 
ing seen the other side of the suspended buck- 



SOUL AND LIFE 43 

ler, declared it to be of gold. Death is con- 
tinued death so far as the question of physical 
Life is concerned: it is merely a change of 
stage in psychical existence. 



CHAPTER III 

TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 

Science has not yet accepted definitely the 
existence of telepathy and can hardly be said 
to have even begun the study of tele-mnemon- 
iky. But the idea of these matters is so inter- 
mingled with fhe subjects of "survivals" and 
"communications," and — as regards telepathy 
at least — appears so frequently in psychical 
literature, that it is desirable for those who 
contemplate speaking with the dead to become 
acquainted with the general nature of the 
problems and facts involved therein. 

Many people are aware— and, indeed, have 
themselves tried the experiment — that mind 
can influence mind without the intervention of 
matter, such as the organs of speech and hear- 
ing operating in a sound-conveying atmos- 
phere, A common phenomenon is the mental 
impression of a person being present who has 
approached without being seen or heard. A 
somewhat less frequent, but still sufficiently 

44 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONXKY 45 

familiar, instance of the same order of things 
is to be found in the fact that persons who are 
looked at intently (even behind their backs) 
often become uneasy and turn to meet the gaze. 
So, also, it is found that cases occur of persons 
suddenly, and without any apparent cause, 
finding themselves thinking earnestly of cer- 
tain other persons and learning subsequently 
that those other persons were at, or a little be- 
fore, the time of the impression thinking of the 
persons impressed. 

Facts such as these — which are positive and 
undisputed — have led to experimental tests, 
conducted scientifically, for the purpose of de- 
termining whether it is possible, at will, to es- 
tablish intelligent communications between 
transmitters and percipients who are at a dis- 
tance from each other; and the name "telep- 
athy" has been given to the kind of intercourse 
in question. The work has been conducted 
chiefly by the Society for Psychical Research, 
whose Reports on the subject have become 
classics. Telepathy is recognised in so far as 
it is a grouping of observed facts; but it has 
not hitherto advanced beyond the status of a 
"working hypothesis," which, however, still 
awaits precise formulation. Thus, Sir Oliver 



46 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

Lodge, F.R.S., in his "Raymond/ ' first pub- 
lished in November, 1916, says — 

"The fact of telepathy proves that bodily organs 
are not absolutely essential to communication of 
ideas. Mind turns out to be able to act directly 
on mind, and stimulate it into response by other than 
material means. Thought does not belong to the 
material region, although it is able to exert an in- 
fluence on that region through mechanism provided 
by vitality. Yet the means whereby it accom- 
plishes the feat are essentially unknown, and the 
fact that such/ interaction is possible would be 
strange and surprising if we were not too much ac- 
customed to it. It is reasonable to suppose that 
the mind can be more at home, and more directly and 
more exuberantly active, when the need for such in- 
teraction between psychical and physical — or let us 
more safely and specifically say between mental and 
material — no longer exists, when the restraining in- 
fluence of brain and nerve mechanism is removed, and 
when some of the limitations connected with bodily 
location in space are ended. 

"Experience must be our guide. To shut the 
door on actual observation and experiment in this 
particular region, because of preconceived ideas and 
obstinate prejudice, is an attitude common enough, 
even among scientific men ; but it is an attitude mark- 
edly unscientific. Certain people have decided that 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 47 

inquiry into the activities of discarnate mind is fu- 
tile ; some few consider it impious ; many, perhaps 
wisely distrusting their own powers, shrink from en- 
tering on such an inquiry. But if there are any 
facts to be ascertained, it must be the duty of some 
volunteers to ascertain them: and for people having 
any acquaintance with scientific history to shut their 
eyes to facts when definitely announced, and to for- 
bid investigation or report concerning them on pain 
of ostracism, — is to imitate a byegone theological 
attitude in a spirit of unintended flattery — a flattery 
which from every point of view is eccentric ; and like- 
wise to display an extraordinary lack of humour." 

It must, however, be added that, a little fur- 
ther on in the same book, Sir Oliver speaks 
somewhat less positively. He says — 

"Matter is an indirect medium of communica- 
tion between mind and mind. That direct tele- 
pathic intercourse should be able to occur between, 
mind and mind, without all this intermediate phys- 
ical mechanism, is therefore not really surprising. 
It has to be proved, no doubt , but the fact is in- 
trinsically less puzzling than many of those other 
facts to which we have grown hardened by usage." 

This account of telepathy is vague, and a 
similar vagueness also characterises the utter- 



48 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

ances of other authorities on the same subject. 
But no good reason exists why the matter 
should not be dealt with in a manner very 
much more clear and precise. 

We should consider, in the first place, that 
the word "mind" really means "soul," and is 
used merely for the sake of convenience as 
concentrating attention upon the soul's faculty 
of intelligence apart from its sentient, emotion- 
al, volitional and ethical attributes. Accord- 
ingly, when a telepathist speaks of mind com- 
municating directly with mind, it is the same 
thing as saying that soul communicates direct- 
ly with soul; and this, in its turn, implies the 
corollary that, whether spirits be incarnate or 
discarnate, the idea of telepathic intercourse is 
admissible. 

In the next place, it is to be borne in mind 
that, as shown in Chapter I of this book, every 
soul has always some definite location in space. 
Nothing certain is known as to whether the 
shape and volume of a soul correspond ex- 
actly in form and size with those of the human 
body that is associated with the soul during life 
on earth. It is sometimes thought, in a specu- 
lative way, that the soul extends beyond the 
confines of the body, which thus becomes in- 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 49 

vested with an "aura," as it is termed, and can 
come into contact with other souls even when 
the respective bodies are more or less apart in 
space; but no facts have been observed that 
give serious support to this view. The proba- 
bilities, indeed, are in favour of the something 
— which may or may not be akin to ordinary 
physical matter — that constitutes a soul having 
a volume approximating to the space occupied 
by its earthly body. 

A third fundamental consideration is that 
the actual experiences of every day consist in 
a large measure of the most astounding in- 
stances of communication between widely sep- 
arated bodies — or bulks of matter — and souls. 
The sun is distant some 93,000,000 miles from 
the earth, and yet it can impart sensations of 
illumination and warmth to a soul on the 
earth's surface, to say nothing of more subtle 
influences conveyed by what are known as 
"dark rays." The fact is indisputable, but it 
is not yet clearly understood. Physicists have 
felt themselves compelled to form the hypoth- 
esis of an "Ether" pervading interstellar space 
and serving as a medium or vehicle for the 
passage of radiant energy from place to place. 
This Ether has to be conceived of as possessing 



50 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

a nature and attributes quite as wonderful and 
incomprehensible as anything narrated in the 
"Arabian Nights" or set forth in the Church 
doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It is under- 
stood to be the means by which the marvels 
of wireless telegraphy become possible, by 
which glances are exchanged between human 
eyes, by which newspapers are read, and by 
which an artillery observer at the front be- 
comes aware whether the gunners are or are 
not hitting their mark. Yet there is not any 
certainty that the particular Ether imagined 
by modern science exists at all. For anything 
that is known and proved the medium of com- 
munication may in the end turn out to be 
something quite different. When, therefore, 
telepathy is spoken of, no scientific man is en- 
titled to reject the idea merely because it in- 
volves the existence of some as yet unknown 
means of interaction. If the fact of telepathy 
be established he must accept it, even though 
it may be as yet inexplicable. The knowl- 
edge possessed by Science from time to time 
does not set limits to the realities of the uni- 
verse. 

A soul that formulates a thought is obvious- 
ly not in quite the same state as was the case 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 51 

before the occurrence of the thought; and if 
there be in existence some kind of space-filling 
"X," corresponding to the imagined "Ether/' 
it is conceivable that this change of state may 
aff ect or disturb the X in a way analogous to 
the supposed affecting of the Ether by a 
change of temperature in a heat-emitting sub- 
stance. In like manner if some other soul lo- 
cated elsewhere be in contact with the X, it is 
conceivable that the disturbance of the latter 
may cause such other soul to experience a cor- 
responding change of state and thus to become 
impressed with, as it were, a facsimile of the 
original thought. The myriad complexities of 
the supposed changes of state and disturbances 
involved in the communication of a train of 
thought need not be regarded as an insuper- 
able difficulty. Let anyone study what takes 
place in the course of a telephonic message. 
A disk of sheet-iron is caused to vibrate by the 
air-shaking human voice: these vibrations 
cause corresponding fluctuations in the elec- 
tric current flowing through the wire uniting 
the transmitter with the receiver; and the vary- 
ing current sets up varying magnetic impulses 
which cause the receiving disk of sheet-iron 
to vibrate in a manner exactly similar to what 



52 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

happened in the case of the transmitting disk, 
so that the air impinging on the listening ear 
is shaken in the same way as the air affected 
by the original speaker's voice. It all seems 
simple enough until the character of the "vi- 
brations" and "fluctuations" is looked into. 
They are so varied, complex and multitudinous 
as to defy analysis or even comprehension. The 
human mind desists from the attempt to real- 
ly understand them. But telephony remains 
an acknowledged fact; and its existence lends 
a high degree of probability to the reality of 
telepathy. ( 

The term "thought-reading" is often em- 
ployed to indicate telepathic communication, 
and is very convenient by reason of its associa- 
tion with what is understood by the common 
action of perusal. In so-called "spiritualistic 
sittings" a medium sometimes mentions a name 
or a circumstance known only to the sitter; 
and this is frequently considered to be a com- 
plete proof of information derived by the me- 
dium from some spirit. But it may just as 
well be a case of thought-reading. The sitter's 
soul, thinking of the name or circumstance, dis- 
turbs the X accordingly. The medium's soul, 
which is in contact with the X, is affected by 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY S3 

the disturbance and becomes conscious of the 
name or circumstance. In simpler, less cum- 
brous language, the medium reads the sitter's 
thoughts. 

It is not, however, merely a question of 
"mediums." Telepathy is important through- 
out the whole range of communication with 
the spirit-world. Whenever and wherever a 
soul — whether still invested with a human body 
or discarnate — is thinking, it is affecting the 
X and thereby rendering it possible for other 
souls to be impressed with the thoughts. For 
the most part the phenomena are of so faint a 
character and the minds to be communicated 
with so "untuned" that the incipient telepathy 
remains unnoticed and disregarded; but occa- 
sionally it commands attention. This view of 
the case is borne out by ample evidence. Sec- 
ond-sight, dreams, presentiments, "inspira- 
tion," and such mental impulses as are com- 
monly considered inexplicable are undoubted 
facts that fall within the scope of telepathy. 
In saying this it is not asserted that the phe- 
nomena in question are always real. They are 
frequently delusions due to an overwrought 
nervous system, to cerebral disorder or to emo- 
tional disturbance; but in other cases they are 



54 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

as actual and genuine as the common occur- 
rences of human life. 

Turning, now, to tele-mnemoniky, or 
"memory-reading/' it is to be remarked that 
although everyone is familiar with the fact 
that memory exists, and though everyone quite 
understands the signification of the word, no 
one as yet has succeeded in giving even a rudi- 
mentary explanation of the faculty of remem- 
brance. The most eminent psychologists have 
found the matter to be quite beyond the limits 
of their understanding; as indeed is essentially 
the case with 'every faculty of the soul, and — 
it may be added — with every attribute of mat- 
ter. The old saying remains as true as ever: 
"A child can ask questions which a wise man 
cannot answer." 

For practical purposes, however, partial 
knowledge suffices. Thus the existence of 
memory as a faculty of the soul is known, and 
it is also known that this implies the possession 
by each soul of a store of information. What- 
ever may be the nature of the storehouse, the 
doors can be opened and the information set 
free or rendered subject to inspection. It is 
conceivable, therefore, that a soul other than 
the memory-owner may under certain un- 



TELEPATHY AND TELE-MNEMONIKY 55 

known conditions have access to the store. 

This is what is meant by tele-mnemoniky — 
the state of things that exists when not only 
current thoughts but also the accumulated 
knowledge resulting from past experience and 
observation are read by some outside soul. And 
as every memory contains much that is 
"pigeon-holed" and out of use for the time be- 
ing, a very notable result is occasionally met 
with. Information is elicited as to facts and 
circumstances of which the person subjected 
to tele-mnemoniky is no longer conscious ; and 
he, or she, becomes firmly and genuinely con- 
vinced that the particulars mentioned must 
have been derived from some supernormal 
source. 

A word remains to be said regarding the 
speed of communication in telepathy and tele- 
mnemoniky. Many persons hesitate to credit 
the reports of experiments showing that two 
persons at a considerable distance from each 
other — located, say, in London and Man- 
chester respectively — are able to exchange 
thoughts without any appreciable delay. 
When, however, it is remembered that the 
velocity with which light travels is 186,000 
miles per second, there should not be any dif- 



56 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

ficulty in supposing that thought-vibrations, 
or whatever they may be, are propagated 
through space at an equal or even greater rate 
of speed. It is not a question, in either case, 
of any substance being transmitted, or of the 
absolute simultaneity of emission and recep- 
tion. And to believe that thoughts may be 
communicated from soul to soul with the veloc- 
ity of light does not compel the belief that souls 
are able to travel from place to place in an 
equally speedy manner. 



CHAPTER IV 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 



The existence of discarnate spirits has been 
proved in Chapter I. It is desirable now to 
state what is known as to the conditions in 
which they exist. 

These conditions have been for thousands of 
years the subject-matter of positive state- 
ments. The sacred writings and inscriptions, 
and the traditions of the various religions that 
have flourished in olden times or are still pro- 
fessed are full of descriptions of the religions 
in which discarnate spirits pass their time and 
of the manner of their lives in the spirit-world. 
Magicians, wizards, witches and necromancers 
of all kinds have, it is said, received copious 
information to the same effect. And during 
the last seventy years Spiritualistic literature 
has added abundantly to the common stock. 

In spite, however, of all this, great uncer- 
tainty prevails. The statements to which ref- 
erence has been made are, in well-nigh all 

57 



58 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

cases, of what is called an "unverifiable" char- 
acter; that is to say, they are not capable of 
test and confirmation by any mundane meth- 
ods of enquiry. But although an unverifiable 
assertion is incapable of normal proof it may 
still be capable of disproof. If, for example, 
it be self-contradictory it must, of course, be 
rejected. And if two separate unverifiable 
statements contradict each other it is obvious 
that they cannot both be true : one of them, at 
least, must be false, while the other remains 
doubtful. Furthermore, if an unverifiable 
piece of information be opposed to some clear- 
ly-established fact or well-proved doctrine no 
reasonable person will regard it as worthy of 
credence. 

This book is not concerned with the ques- 
tion of whether the accounts of miracles and 
other supernormal details in the Bible are or 
are not to be believed. The purely religious 
view of the matter need not be dwelt upon. 
Nor will it be of any practical utility to take 
into consideration the history of magic and the 
doings of magicians as distinguished in the 
popular idea from religion and its ministers. 
What is alone needful to be mentioned is the 
evidence that has been more or less scientifically 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 59 

accumulated in modern times in connection 
with psychical phenomena and with communi- 
cations understood to have taken place across 
the border-line between living humanity and 
the spirit-world. Much of this evidence is, as 
has already been said, unverifiable, and a good 
deal of it can be disproved. But there remains 
a very substantial residuum that demands rec- 
ognition and acceptance by men of education 
who are free from prejudice and willing to be 
guided by reason; and this is the trustworthy 
source of a certain degree of precise knowl- 
edge with regard to the conditions of life be- 
yond death. 

The most striking fact that thus comes un- 
der observation is the readiness with which 
communication can be opened up with discar- 
nate spirits by persons who are naturally 
capable of recognising their presence. It hap- 
pens frequently that in less than a minute after 
the commencement of a "sitting 5 ' indications 
are given of one or more spirits being in at- 
tendance ; and it is very rarely indeed that any 
sitting remains altogether blank. If, then, we 
reflect that since "Spiritualism" has become a 
cult sittings have taken place, and are still 
taking place, day by day, week in and week 



60 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

out, and from year's end to year's end, we are 
forced to regard this world as being still the 
habitat of many a disearnate spirit. The con- 
clusion thus arrived at is confirmed by the less 
systematic phenomena of dreams, phantoms, 
haunting, "possession," second-sight, clairvoy- 
ance, automatic speech and writing, the spon- 
taneous movements of material objects and 
other like occurrences; merely, however, to 
the extent of their being really due to the 
denizens of the spirit-world, which is acknowl- 
edged to be th^ case in many instances. 

The certainty thus arising that great num- 
bers of spirits do not leave the earth when they 
become separated from the human bodies they 
have inhabited suggests a doubt as to whether 
any spirits at all go to some other sphere. The 
evidence available does not remove the doubt. 
It is true that disearnate spirits sometimes vol- 
unteer statements with regard to another 
world, and sometimes in reply to questions give 
particulars as to their residence in such a re- 
gion. But this information is of the unveri- 
fiable kind, is often "nonsense," as Sir Oliver 
Lodge has said, and is frequently demonstra- 
bly false ; while it is always discredited by the 
fact that the spirit who claims to be a resident 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 61 

in a far-distant sphere of being is nevertheless 
self-admittedly present in a London room or 
wherever else the sitting may take place. The 
contradiction is never explained away in any 
reasonable manner. It may be said, therefore, 
to be highly probable that death merely opens 
the way to a further term of existence in this 
world, and that the spirits of the departed re- 
main for the period of such term in the more 
or less near neighbourhood of the relatives and 
friends they have left behind them. 

The idea of such post-mortem existence be- 
ing also limited in time arises naturally, and 
is to be reasonably inferred, from the evidence 
now being considered. Although discarnate 
spirits are very numerous, their number, so 
far as they manifest themselves, is altogether 
insignificant when compared with that of the 
deaths that occur from day to day; while if 
we take into account the consideration that the 
entire soul-population of the earth becomes dis- 
carnate from generation to generation, that is 
to say, every thirty years or so, we are faced 
by the fact that living persons are but as a 
drop in the ocean of possible individual exist- 
ences. We have also to bear in mind that each 
of these existences is separate from the rest, 



62 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

and does not originate either from nothing or 
from inanimate matter or from inanimate 
energy, as may possibly be the case with Life. 
If, then, souls when disembodied remain per- 
petually in this world, it follows, first, that 
there must be a continual supply of fresh souls 
coming in from some other region of the uni- 
verse; and, secondly, that of all these millions 
of millions of active intelligences only one, here 
and there, is able or willing to make its pres- 
ence known to mankind. These conclusions 
are of so extravagant a character as to be un- 
acceptable; ai/d if it be possible to frame an 
hypothesis that avoids the difficulties they in- 
volve, it would be a reasonable proceeding to 
adopt such an alternative view. 

Psychical philosophy has in all ages been 
furnished with at least one "working hypothe- 
sis" of the kind required. Its scientific name 
is "metempsychosis," which in more popular 
language is known as "transmigration." It 
teaches that after death the spirit enters into 
some other human body which happens to be 
living and unprovided with a soul; and the 
doctrine is frequently extended to include the 
idea that the new habitat may even be the body 
of one of the lower animals. Many of the 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 63 

most famous thinkers of Greece and the Orient 
were associated with the belief in question. 
It is to be found in the Bible and other sacred 
writings, and forms a part of the religions of 
many races throughout the world. It cannot, 
therefore, be lightly disregarded as a mere fan- 
tasy unworthy of consideration by civilised 
people in the twentieth century. 

As a matter of fact, the theory of transmi- 
gration fits in with modern observations. It 
does away with the necessity of a perpetual 
supply of fresh souls from extra-mundane re- 
gions. It also is consistent with, and explains, 
the absence of any vast overwhelming spirit- 
population. Moreover, it is the logical con- 
comitant of our common, everyday experience. 
We are familiar with the occurrence of what 
we call "births," that is, the coming into exist- 
ence of new human bodies. We know also 
that these new bodies become, in some way or 
other, the temporary abodes of souls — the ten- 
ancy being sometimes a matter of minutes only 
and sometimes enduring for rather more than 
one hundred years. We see for ourselves that 
the habitation suits the tenant and that the 
tenant suits the habitation. What, then, can 
be more natural and fitting than that, when the 



64 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

tenant, for some reason or another, has to quit 
his dwelling, he looks out for another abode of 
much the same kind? So far from this course 
of action being fantastic and improbable, it is 
pre-eminently likely. The play of mere im- 
agination is to be found altogether with those 
mental speculators who talk of the supposed 
departure of discarnate spirits to supposed 
spheres of existence beyond the earth. 

It is quite conceivable, and probable enough, 
that some little time elapses between "death" 
and "reincarnation." Hence it is to be ex- 
pected that there is always a greater or less 
number of discarnate spirits dwelling tempo- 
rarily, and a little disconsolately, perhaps, in 
the air-occupied space surrounding the earth; 
and this expectation is borne out by actual 
observation. It is to be surmised, further- 
more, that spirits awaiting re-embodiment will 
feel themselves more at home, as it were, if 
they remain in the immediate proximity of the 
localities they inhabited and the persons they 
knew before "death." Here, again, we find 
the surmise to accord with experience. Some 
places are undoubtedly "haunted"; and it is 
equally certain that some persons are haunted 
also; for it would otherwise be impossible to 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 65 

account reasonably for the well-known fact 
that sitters at seances habitually open up com- 
munications with their deceased relatives and 
friends who have always been perfect strangers 
to the mediums with whom the sittings take 
place. The spirits are not brought by the me- 
diums ; they are introduced by the sitters them- 
selves, who are quite unconscious of being thus 
accompanied or "haunted/' To deny this is 
equivalent to maintaining the absurdity that 
every real medium is en rapport with all the 
deceased relatives and friends of every living 
human being. The soul of a medium is not 
endowed with powers vastly greater than those 
of ordinary souls ; any more than a discarnate 
spirit is able to know and do very much beyond 
what he was aware of or could accomplish dur- 
ing life. If either mediums or spirits were 
capable of really marvellous achievements we 
may be sure that now and again some daring 
soul would contrive to startle mankind; and as 
no such feat has been recorded through the 
ages ("miracles/' religious and otherwise, are 
not here referred to) , it is a fair inference that 
our deceased friends are not vastly different 
from, or, at any rate, are not vastly superior 
to, what they were when we knew them here. 



66 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

Coming now to the question of the form in 
which discarnate spirits exist, all the available 
evidence of a verifiable or logically-acceptable 
character goes to show that in the spirit-world 
there are not any differences of type corre- 
sponding to what are found among human 
beings* Spirits are not white, black, brown, 
yellow and red; they are not Anglo-Saxon, 
Teutonic, Scandinavian, Gaelic, Arab, negro, 
Mongolian or Polynesian. If the contrary 
were the case it would, by this time, have be- 
come apparent. Something of this lack of 
evidence may perhaps be due to the fact that 
modern psychical research has for the most 
part been conducted by English and American 
investigators, while most of the communica- 
tions with spirits have involved the use of the 
English language and have been recorded in 
that tongue. Hence it is to be supposed that 
the spirits who have taken part in the proceed- 
ings have been only those possessing a knowl- 
edge of English; yet, even in that case, souls 
of many earthly races might have been ex- 
pected to come forward. And as the same 
argument applies to the less numerous in- 
stances of psychical investigations by French, 
Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Russian, 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 67 

etc, students of the occult, the conclusion is 
inevitable that spirits are not divided into racial 
categories even though they may differ in what 
may be termed bodily characteristics and de- 
velopments. 

That spirits have organised bodies is clear. 
The "stuff" of which their bodies are made is, 
however, not ordinary matter. We already 
know by Dr. Crawford's experiments — men- 
tioned in Chapter I of this book — that a some- 
thing exists which gravitates and yet is invis- 
ible to our eyes. We also know, by common 
psychical experience, that spirits are able to 
see, hear, speak and touch, and can by us be 
seen, heard, spoken to and touched. If these 
facts be co-ordinated they do not leave any 
room for doubt as to there being spiritual 
equivalents of human bodies equipped with or- 
gans of sense and perception. It does not follow 
necessarily that these equivalents are counter- 
parts or facsimiles in form and appearance, 
even if in many of their functions they are 
practically indistinguishable from their human 
prototypes. Racial peculiarities are admit- 
tedly absent, as also is Life with its physio- 
logical requirements. Spirits are free from 
wear and tear, from the need of food, clothing 



68 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

and shelter, and from the maintenance of 
health. They are not divided by sex differ- 
ences and they are not characterised by any 
form of reproduction: they have neither an- 
cestry nor posterity. These various features 
lend force to the theory of transmigration. 
They show the possibility of an ordinary hu- 
man body being permeated, so to say, by a 
spirit's body which can enter or leave at any 
time and which always maintains its separate 
existence. Here, again, there are facts of com- 
mon knowledge and experience that support 
the doctrine 01 metempsychosis. Most persons 
are, now and then, conscious of memories or 
reminiscent impressions that cannot be traced 
to any events of the present life. It occasion- 
ally happens that when a person first visits 
some particular locality he finds himself in 
surroundings with which his mind is already 
familiar. The only reasonable explanation is 
that the soul remembers somewhat of its ex- 
periences in a previous earthly life, 

Another line of thought leading in the same 
direction is that suggested by the marked and 
well-known phenomena of mental heredity. 
Family peculiarities of mind and character are 
commonly supposed to be transmitted from 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 69 

parents to children in the form of material 
germs which are imagined, but have never been 
proved, to exist. And yet in many cases— 
as also happens with physical peculiarities — 
an intervening generation is skipped, and it is 
the mental characteristic of a grandparent or 
great-grandparent that reappears in the de- 
scendant. It would, therefore, seem more 
reasonable to infer that the true cause of hered- 
ity is to be found in the preference manifested 
by discarnate spirits for reincarnation in the 
direct posterity of the human bodies they have 
at one time or another inhabited. Nor is it 
a far-fetched supposition to hold that, in the 
spirit-world, as in this life, souls of similar 
characters associate together and, to whatever 
extent may be possible, seek to be reincarnated 
in the same earthly families : a supposition that 
accounts for more than one child of a family 
presenting what are considered to be the heredi- 
tary characteristics. 

It should not, however, be concluded that 
soul and body are without reaction on each 
other. We know, as a fact, that mental habits 
and emotional indulgences gradually affect a 
person's features and disturb the functioning 
of various organs. We also know that bodily 



70 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

peculiarities warp the mind and influence the 
thoughts. The phrenological mapping of the 
brain has some foundation in reality; and 
probably there does not exist a single person 
of mature age who is not to some extent a 
physiognomist. Intelligent capacity, sen- 
sitiveness and moral character do, most un- 
doubtedly, depend a good deal upon the size, 
form and texture of the brain. In other 
words, a soul when in the body is fettered and 
guided and is not fully able to reveal its true 
self. From this it follows that when a soul 
becomes separated from the body it cannot 
logically be expected to have exactly the same 
character that it apparently possessed in life. 
Psychical experience in spiritualistic sittings 
and otherwise is to this effect. It is cus- 
tomary, indeed, for sitters to say — and, emo- 
tionally, to believe — that the spirits of their 
deceased relatives and friends behave and 
speak exactly as they used to do in life; but 
this is not quite borne out by the recorded evi- 
dence. It is customary also, where the dis- 
crepancies are of too glaring a nature to be 
glozed over or hushed up, to put them down 
to the interference of mischievous spirits who 
personate the spirits called for; but this is a 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 71 

very lame method of explanation. The best 
plan in all cases of difficulty is to face boldly 
the facts. A disembodied spirit is less cribbed, 
cabined and confined than when it was attached 
to a living body; it is more free for both good 
and evil. We are familiar enough with good, 
bad and indifferent souls in this world: why 
should we expect the same souls to be other- 
wise simply because of a change in their en- 
vironment? All that we can reasonably look 
for is a certain degree »of revelation, a certain 
manifestation of what before was more or less 
hidden and which may be estimable or the re- 
verse. 

A feature that deserves notice as related to 
this view of the matter is the consensus of 
testimony to the effect that communicating 
spirits, whether those who are sought for or 
those who are what may be termed casual and 
errant, have habitually a less regard for truth 
than is the case with highly-educated human 
beings ; though, if an average be struck of man- 
kind in general, it does not seem that there is 
much to choose between the trustworthiness 
of statements made by the living inhabitants of 
the earth and the truth of what is said by dis- 
embodied spirits. Still, the matter is of some 



72 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

importance, seeing that it bears very materially 
upon the question of whether individual spirits 
are always the particular disembodied souls 
they profess to be. 

Another feature, equally worthy of atten- 
tion, is the apparent absence of spirits who 
can properly be regarded as diabolical. Sit- 
tings for the purpose of communication with 
"surviving" souls are not attended by devils 
or by beings occupied mainly in the pursuit of 
evil. It may, of course, be the case that the 
published records and the verbal accounts that 
are current suppress all mention of occurrences 
deemed to be demoniacal, in the same way that, 
according to Sir Oliver Lodge, spiritualists 
"usually either discourage or suppress" state- 
ments "about the nature of things 'on the other 
side/ " The eminent authority here quoted 
goes on, indeed, to say — 

"These are what we call the hinverifiable 5 com- 
munications ; for we cannot bring them to book by 
subsequent terrestrial inquiry in the same way as we 
can test information concerning personal or mun- 
dane affairs. Information of the higher Tcmd has 
often been received but has seldom been published; 
and it is difficult to know what value to put upon 
it, or how far it is really trustworthy.^ 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 73 

This very frank confession of the reports of 
seances being systematically garbled is a little 
disconcerting, espqqially when coming from 
one of the shining lights of the scientific world ; 
but it probably means no more than that the 
champions of spiritualism do not desire to 
arouse antagonism that can be avoided. In 
the same way it may well be that those persons 
who, whether as mediums or sitters or in the 
privacy of individual attempts at communica- 
tion, happen to come into contact with evil 
spirits do not feel disposed to subject them- 
selves to the hostility of the religious world 
by detailing their experiences. But, however 
this may be, the fact remains that, so far as 
common knowledge and common repute are 
concerned, the devilish element is not likely to 
be encountered by those persons who seek to 
speak with the dead. 

If, now, the particulars set forth in the pres- 
ent chapter be summarised we find the state of 
things to be as follows: — 

1. Disembodied souls do not depart from 
this world when "death" occurs. 

g. They remain for a time free from bodily 
environment of an ordinary material 
kind. 



74 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

3. Sooner or later they enter into new hu- 

man bodies, and perhaps, also, in some 
cases, into new bodies of the lower 
animals. 

4. During the period of their free existence 

while awaiting transmigration, many 
of them make a practice of haunting 
localities and living human beings. 

5. They possess in themselves the equiva- 

lent of bodies constructed of something 
analogous to matter and having or- 
ganises by which they perceive and 
act. ' 

6. Each disembodied soul is an individual 

entity existing permanently apart 
from all others and not distinguished 
by any racial or sexual characteristics. 

7. Each individual soul has its own idiosyn- 

crasies of intellect, sense, emotion, 
conscience and volition. These idio- 
syncrasies are subject to at least tem- 
porary modification by the association 
of the soul with a human body. 

8. The character and conduct of a disem- 

bodied soul are not necessarily the 
same in all respects as were apparent 
during life, and do not necessarily re- 



DISCARNATE SPIRITS 75 

main completely unchanged when 
transmigration takes place. 
9. The existence of souls that are wholly 
evil has not yet been established by 
actual observation or experience of 
any kind. 

This summary does not involve any religious 
views and is not based on any religious teach- 
ing. It is essentially scientific; that is to say, 
it puts into plain language the conclusions ar- 
rived at by impartial students of physical and 
psychical facts and phenomena, irrespective of 
whether such conclusions do or do not fit in 
with ecclesiastical teaching, popular notions, 
or "sceptical" dogmatism. 

At the same time it is to be observed that 
the view here taken of discarnate spirits leaves 
the ground quite open for Religion. It is 
quite consistent with the existence of a Divine 
Ruler, with the doctrine of progression in 
either rightdoing or wrongdoing, and with an 
Eternal Justice that inflicts punishment upon 
souls whose volition is employed for base pur- 
poses. For example, it may well be that in 
transmigration the choice does not always rest 
with the soul concerned, but is divinely de- 



76 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

creed; the new life may be higher or lower 
than the preceding life, according to whether 
the latter was turned to good or bad account. 
The number of transmigrations of any partic- 
ular soul may be limited; and metempsychosis 
may thus correspond to the doctrine of Purga- 
tory—an evolutionary period at the conclusion 
of which the soul is transferred to a Heaven 
or Hell beyond the confines of the earth. 
Even the idea of a Holy Ghost that continu- 
ally appeals to the mind and will is not ex- 
cluded from ( the psychical summary above 
given; nor is there therein anything that con- 
tradicts the theory of a Christ or a Buddha. 
What the truth is with regard to such matters 
as these must be determined by each person 
for himself or herself. The readers of the 
present volume are not addressed as Christians 
or as non-Christians, as Deists or as Atheists. 
They are considered merely as being interested 
in the subject of speaking with the dead, and 
as being desirous of receiving information with 
regard to the ascertained facts and admitted 
logic of the matter. 



CHAPTER V 



MEDIUMS 



Inequality is the rule of the universe. It is 
particularly observable in the characters and 
capacities of human beings. Many persons 
are musicians ; others are incapable of playing 
the simplest musical instrument. A few indi- 
viduals, here and there, are mathematicians; 
the great majority of mankind are not even 
good arithmeticians. Artists exist in con- 
siderable numbers; but they are sparse com- 
pared with the duller souls. Chess-players are 
rarities. Really good, unselfish, high-prin- 
cipled souls, steadfast in the practice of right- 
eousness and unswayed by prejudice, conven- 
tion and dogma, are seldom met with. 

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
the possession of minds and brains capable of 
being affected by external psychical influences 
is not found to be a common characteristic of 
people in general. In past ages, magicians, 
seers, wizards, witches and the like, have been 
the exception, not the rule; and in modern 

77 



78 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

times, when these singularly-constituted beings 
are called "mediums," their numbers still re- 
main very restricted. That real mediums do, 
in point of fact, exist to some extent is certain. 
Thus, Sir Oliver Lodge says, in "Raymond" — 

"Do we understand how a mind [= soul] can 
with difficulty and imperfectly operate another body 
submitted to its temporary guidance and control? 
No. Do we know for a fact that it does? Aye, that 
is the question — a question of evidence. I myself 
answer the question affirmatively ; not on theoretical 
grounds — far fjrom that — but on a basis of straight- 
forward experience. Others, if they allow them- 
selves to take the trouble to get the experience, will 
come to the same conclusions. . . . Let us be as cau- 
tious and critical, aye, and as sceptical as we like, 
but let us also be patient and persevering and fair; 
do not let us start with a preconceived notion of 
what is possible and what is impossible in this al- 
most unexplored universe; let us only be willing to 
learn and be guided by facts, and not dogmas: and 
gradually the truth will permeate our understand- 
ing and make for itself a place in our minds as se- 
cure as in any other branch of observational sci- 
ence." 

He says, moreover, when alluding to speak- 
ing with the dead — 



MEDIUMS 79 

"Communication is not easy, but it occurs; and 
humanity has reason to be grateful to those few in- 
dividuals who, finding themselves possessed of the 
faculty of mediumship, and therefore able to act 
as intermediaries, allow themselves to be used for 
this purpose." 

The nature of the peculiarities — anatomical, 
physiological or psychical, or perhaps all three 
combined — that distinguish a medium from 
other human beings is not yet known, and no 
means of inspection as yet exist by which to 
be certain that any particular person is or is 
not a medium. Actual experience is the only 
guide. This, of course, leaves the door open 
to the fraudulent assumption of mediumship. 
But the occurrence of fraud and imposture 
does not affect the existence of genuine medi- 
ums. In every profession are to be found 
similar examples of deceit. Have not all edu- 
cated persons heard of "pious frauds" perpe- 
trated by the holders of high religious office? 
Are there not many instances of ignorant, 
venal and deliberately unjust judges? Do 
statesmen and politicians always reject bribes 
and act solely for the good of their countries? 
Does a physician invariably admit his inability 
to understand a complaint; and do general 



80 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

practitioners in every case administer real 
medicines instead of the proverbial "bread 
pills" and "coloured water"? Do manufac- 
turers and traders deal solely in unadulterated 
goods? When these questions can be satisfac- 
torily answered it will be time enough to put 
the entire profession of mediums in the pillory; 
and until then all reasonable men and women 
will be content to recognise that in medium- 
ship, as in other pursuits, we must expect to 
meet with both the worthy and the unworthy. 
What, perhaps, is not yet fully recognised 
is that mediums are much more numerous than 
would appear to be the case if regard be had 
solely to the professional class, that is, to the 
persons who practise mediumship as a means 
of livelihood. There are many amateur "me- 
diums"; and there are also many other indi- 
viduals who are conscious of possessing what 
are spoken of as "psychic powers," and yet 
either do not allow the fact to become known 
or confine the exercise of their powers to the 
development of communications in their own 
private surroundings. Hence, if every pro- 
fessional medium without exception were 
shown to be a fraud — which is not the case 
now, and never has been the case at any time 



MEDIUMS 81 

— there would still remain an abundance of 
trustworthy experiential and experimental 
evidence establishing the reality of speaking 
with the dead. For instance, the Mrs. Ken- 
nedy who plays such an important part in the 
story of "Raymond" is not a professional me- 
dium at all ; she is the wife of a London physi- 
cian, leads the life of an ordinary private 
English lady moving in good society, and is 
not paid for any aid she may render to friends 
who are desirous of "communicating." So, too, 
the medium, Miss Goligher, who assists Dr. 
Crawford is a young lady of private social 
position, who gives her services with the ap- 
proval and aid of her family and without fee 
or reward, except, of course, such moral satis- 
faction as may arise from the consciousness of 
being engaged in a work likely to benefit man- 
kind. 

It often happens that mediums are ignorant 
and illiterate; and there is not any case on 
record where a medium, whether educated or 
uneducated, has been able to give an intelligible 
account of the way in which communications 
with disembodied souls become possible. As a 
general rule real mediums do not claim a 
greater knowledge of psychical phenomena 



82 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

than is possessed by the sitters themselves. 
They are aware that communications take 
place, and they find by actual experience that 
they themselves serve as intermediaries. Be- 
yond this they do not seek to enquire ; and they 
refrain from attempting in any way to control 
the proceedings. They are passive instru- 
ments in the hands of the powers from "the 
other side"; much as was the case, we read, 
with those persons who gave voice to the ora- 
cles of old. In view of these facts it seems to 
follow that the common practice of "testing" 
the mediums &nd putting constraint upon them 
is a mere waste of time and attention. If they 
be genuine they are, virtually, mere pieces of 
mechanism; and all that can be done usefully 
is to observe the working. If they be fraudu- 
lent this will quickly enough become self-evi- 
dent. All that the sitter need do is to bring 
a little common sense to bear. 

It is a vexed question whether professional 
mediums are or are not banded together in a 
secret craft or guild for the purpose of collect- 
ing and interchanging information with regard 
to sitters and their families. The suggestion 
of such a combination apparently implies a 
doubt as to the good faith of mediums in gen- 



MEDIUMS 83 

eral ; but another interpretation is possible. It 
must be remembered that old laws are still in 
existence which forbid any exploitation of as- 
serted psychical powers. These laws have 
produced a long series of "common informers," 
who under various pretences arrange sittings 
with mediums for the purpose of entrapping 
them into breaches of the law, irrespective of 
whether the phenomena observed are or are 
not genuine. It would therefore be a very 
natural proceeding for mediums to co-operate 
for the object of self -protection. But as re- 
gards any attempts to "arrange" the communi- 
cations the futility of such proceedings is ob- 
vious. Sitters turn up unexpectedly from all 
localities. They may or they may not give 
their right names and addresses. Where the 
seance takes place at once there is not any op- 
portunity of instituting any enquiry. And it 
is perfectly clear that a medium in any par- 
ticular locality cannot keep in stock a mass of 
information with regard to private individuals 
in the rest of the country. The "sceptic," or 
critic, therefore, who indulges in the belief that 
communications can be explained away by the 
theory that all mediums are dishonest, and 
have been at every sitting in previous posses- 



84j HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

sion of the information conveyed in the alleged 
utterances of the spirits, is very much more 
credulous than the most gullible sitter. 

Although it is correct to regard the medium 
as a mechanism by means of which the spirits 
are able to communicate with living persons, it 
would be a mistake to overlook the fact that 
the mechanism possesses an individuality which 
to some extent qualifies the communications. 
Every man knows that his handwriting varies 
with every change of pen. Delicate embroid- 
ery is not practicable with darning-needles. 
A discarnate feoul that finds itself compelled to 
use a medium's hand for writing or a medium's 
vocal apparatus for speaking has to actuate 
these organs by means of the medium's brain, 
which may be, so to speak, either coarse or 
fine, and in every case is attuned by the experi- 
ences of its normal life. The medium's habits 
of thought and expression thus become inter- 
mingled with and sometimes quite override 
those of the communicating spirit; and this 
"sophistication," as it is termed, leads fre- 
quently to much confusion and many errors 
of statement. It also serves to accentuate in 
appearance the change of character, already 
mentioned in these pages, that is often observed 



MEDIUMS 85 

in disembodied spirits when compared with 
their demeanour during life. Great care is 
necessary, therefore, in judging how far com- 
munications through mediums are to be taken 
at their face values. It is not a question of 
good or bad faith. The point involved is 
whether any, and what, allowance should be 
made for the imperfection of the instruments 
employed. 

Many mediums — the great majority, in fact 
— assert, and are genuinely convinced, that 
they work under the control of certain individ- 
ual spirits. This has always been claimed in 
magical circles; and a good deal of evidence 
exists to support a belief in the reality of 
"familiar spirits." At the same time it is diffi- 
cult for unprejudiced observers to accept the 
idea of there being any spirits who are content 
to dance attendance day and night and year 
after year upon human beings of a very ordi- 
nary type and undistinguished by any great 
qualities of soul. This difficulty is increased 
when consideration is given to what is said with 
respect to the "controls" themselves. They 
adopt names that are fantastic and arbitrarily 
assumed; they never give any confirmable in- 
formation as to their identities and abodes 



86 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

when in life; their professed individualities- 
little Indian girls, Indian yogis, Indian chiefs, 
unknown "doctors/ 5 etc.- — are constantly in 
palpable contradiction with their own utter- 
ances and doings ; and they remain in evidence 
only so long as their respective mediums con- 
tinue in professional work. The theory is 
sometimes advanced that a "control" is a "sec- 
ond personality 55 of the medium — a supposi- 
tion that meets the difficulties to which allu- 
sion has been made. But a "second person- 
ality 55 is, in effect, a second soul, no matter 
what attempts may be made to whittle down 
its meaning by talk of "sub-consciousness," 
"subliminal individuality 55 and the like. A 
person who has a second soul is a person who 
is "possessed 55 by a spirit entering into the 
body from the outside and sharing the habitat 
with its original tenant. It is not necessary 
to infer that the brain and other bodily organs 
are used simultaneously by the two souls: the 
trend of the available evidence is, on the con- 
trary, to show that the normal soul is com- 
monly in sole control and that it is only occa- 
sionally that the supernormal occupant takes 
the reins. But the theory in question does 
undoubtedly compel a modification of the view 



MEDIUMS 87 

usually entertained with regard to mediums. 
Not only must they all be looked upon as hu- 
man beings of exceptional physical and psy- 
chical characteristics, but in the majority of 
cases they must be classed in the category of 
persons who are "possessed." Fortunately 
the "controls" are rarely, if ever, of a com- 
pletely evil nature ; but there is reason to think 
that they are occasionally of a type lower than 
souls in general. Idiocy and insanity are not 
always accompanied by any clearly-defined 
disease or malformation of the brain, and in 
such cases may possibly result from what may. 
be termed the clumsy intermeddling of two 
distinct souls— both being of an inferior order 
— in the same bodily environment. 

The subject here discussed is not a light and 
negligible matter where speaking with the dead 
is concerned. Very many persons find it both 
convenient and desirable to employ mediums as 
intermediaries, and in almost every instance 
this means the additional intervention of some 
"control." Here, again, it will be useful to 
make a quotation from "Raymond," the most 
satisfactory work yet published on "survival" 
and "communication," and a well-filled store- 
house of fact and reasoning. 



88 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

"But however much," says Sir Oliver Lodge, "can 
be and has been written on this subject, and what- 
ever different opinions may be held, it is universally 
admitted that the dramatic semblance of the con- 
trol is undoubtedly that of a separate person [i.e. 
a soul distinct from the normal soul of the me- 
dium]- — a person asserted to be permanently ex- 
isting on the other side and to be occupied on that 
side in much the same functions as the medium is on 
this. The duty of controlling and transmitting 
messages seems to be laid upon such a one — it is his 
special work. The dramatic character of most of 
the controls is so vivid and self-consistent, that 
whatever any ^ven sitter or experimenter may feel 
is the probable truth concerning their real nature, 
the simplest way is to humour them by taking them 
at their face value and treating them as separate 
and responsible and real individuals. It is true that 
in the case of some mediums, especially when over- 
done or tired, there are evanescent and absurd in- 
trusions every now and then, which cannot be seri- 
ously regarded. Those have to be eliminated; and 
for anyone to treat them as real people would be 
ludicrous ; but undoubtedly the serious controls show 
a character and personality and memory of their 
own, and they appear to carry on as continuous an 
existence as anyone else whom one only meets oc- 
casionally for a conversation." 



MEDIUMS 89 

There is not anything in this weighty ex- 
pression of opinion that really clashes with 
the 'possession" theory, except, indeed, the 
suggestion that the controls are persons "per- 
manently existing on the other side" — a sug- 
gestion which is in obvious conflict with the 
admission that controls are in constant atten- 
dance on mediums in this world. What Sir 
Oliver means by "evanescent and absurd in- 
trusions" that "cannot be seriously regarded" 
or treated as "real people" is also not clear, 
but probably refers to some form of "sophisti- 
cation" resulting from a derangement of the 
transmitting mechanism. In any case the con- 
clusion remains that the transmission takes 
place through a combination of medium-c^m- 
control; and this may in great measure explain 
the apparent psychical sensitiveness of medi- 
ums. That is to say, the reason why mediums 
are particularly subject to spiritual influence 
from the outside may be due to the fact of their 
possessing, or being possessed by, a secondary 
semi-attached soul which is comparatively free 
to perceive and attend to the efforts made by 
external spirits to open up communication. 



CHAPTER VI 



COMMUNICATING 



Very many methods have been discovered of 
communicating with discarnate spirits; but it 
is not needful in the present volume to deal 
with any system of incantation or "magical" 
rites. What is proposed is to describe such 
practices as have in modern times been found 
to yield good results and have become cus- 
tomary. 

1. Expectancy 

This is suitable where an individual person 
desires to ascertain whether he or she is en- 
dowed with any psychic powers. By sitting 
in some place quite alone and free from inter- 
ruption, and by adopting a mental attitude of 
passive receptivity and expectancy, the soul 
becomes ready to perceive and be affected by 
any spirits that may be in its vicinity and that 
may attempt to open up communications. A 

90 



COMMUNICATING 91 

Quakers' meeting — though not a case of soli- 
tary individuals — is a good illustration of the 
method of expectancy in actual practice. No 
one is supposed to speak without being "moved 
thereto by the Spirit"; and it is by no means 
an uncommon event for the meeting to begin, 
continue and end without a single word being 
said — the necessary vocal impulse being want- 
ing, although various members of the congre- 
gation may be distinctly conscious, in a less 
definite way, of spiritual presence and thought- 
suggestion. 

The manifestations in the course of expec- 
tancy sittings may vary from thought-sugges- 
tion to positive physical phenomena, such as 
the sensation of being touched or gently blown 
upon, the movement of some inanimate object, 
the hearing of a voice or even the visual ap- 
pearance of some supernormal object. All 
depends upon whether the sitter^is or is not 
susceptible to psychical influence, and also 
upon whether the locality or the sitter person- 
ally is or is not haunted. This word "haunted" 
must not be understood as implying that the 
sitter — any more than the locality — is con- 
scious of the proximity of spirits or is in any 
way inconvenienced thereby. It merely means 



92 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

that, as explained in a previous part of this 
book, discarnate spirits tend to remain near 
the places and persons with whom they were 
familiar during life — perhaps in the hope of 
being able to make their presence known. 

2. Automatic Writing 

It is very rarely that the results of "ex- 
pectancy" go beyond thought-impression and 
subsidiary physical manifestations, neither of 
which can be regarded as in the nature of prac- 
tical communications. For the giving of a 
message or the carrying-on of a conversation 
something more is required. Accordingly, 
when an enquirer sits alone it is customary to 
have at hand a pencil and paper or some ap- 
paratus — as, for example, a planchette — by 
means of which writing is possible. It is then 
frequently found that the sitter's hand, with- 
out any conscious guidance by the sitter, will 
manipulate the pencil or the apparatus so as 
to produce a "script" on the paper. This is 
read and may be followed up by viva voce com- 
ments and questions, and thus a regular verbal 
interview takes place. 

Automatic writing does not depend upon 



COMMUNICATING 93 

solitude. It may take place in the presence of 
any number of observers, and is frequently 
employed by mediums as being an expeditious 
method of communication. 



3. Trance Writing and Speaking 

In cases where the sitter is markedly "psy- 
chic" and adopts the method of Expectancy 
it frequently happens that normal control over 
the body is lost. A condition of trance super- 
venes, and while this continues the spirit — 
which may be either a "second personality" or 
a soul from the outside — that has gained the 
upper hand makes use to a greater or less ex- 
tent of the brain and other organs subject to 
its mastery. The hand may write : the mouth 
may speak: the whole body may be engaged in 
some impersonation; and all this may take 
place beyond the scope of the sitter's normal 
consciousness. When the trance is over the 
sitter is not able to recall anything that has 
been written or said or enacted. The services 
of some recording observer are therefore neces- 
sary if any practical result is to be obtained. 

The trance condition is particularly likely 
to occur when the sitter, or one of the sitters, is 



94 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

a genuine "medium," or, in other words, a per- 
son who either is naturally endowed with spe- 
cial susceptibility to psychical influences or is 
the habitat of two souls, normal and "sublim- 
inal" respectively. Accordingly in the major- 
ity of seances with professional mediums the 
communications from discarnate spirits are re- 
ceived during trance, and take the form of 
script executed by the medium's hand or words 
spoken by the medium. Frequently, more- 
over, the medium is not completely entranced 
but retains partial consciousness ; the result be- 
ing that wha/t may be described as a dazed con- 
dition ensues, and the utterances from "the 
other side" become mixed with, and qualified 
by, various halting and imperfect statements 
emanating from the medium's own mind. 
This is why so many of the published reports 
of spiritualistic seances contain what appear 
to be merely such erroneous and ignorant re- 
marks as might be expected from compara- 
tively uneducated persons who have become 
acquainted with the tricks of a trade. And as 
the simulation of a partially-entranced and 
semi-conscious state is a very easy matter for 
persons who have any dramatic turn, it is often 
difficult to know how far a communication is 



COMMUNICATING 95 

genuine and how far it is inadvertently or de- 
signedly sophisticated. But if the recipients 
of the communication do not allow themselves 
to be swayed by emotion, and bring a little 
common sense to bear, they will find in the 
great majority of cases that the matter can 
be made clear enough for all practical pur- 
poses. 

4. Signalling 

Communication need not be confined to 
writing and speech. It is found that codes of 
signals can be arranged with discarnate spirits 
desirous of opening up intelligent relations 
with living persons. 

The methods of signalling depend upon the 
ingenuity and preferences of the parties con- 
cerned. They are not restricted to any par- 
ticular proceedings ; though it has become cus- 
tomary with the majority of sitters to make 
use of "raps" and "table- tilting." It is also 
usual to agree with the spirits that a single rap 
or tilting movement shall signify "No," that 
three raps or tilts shall mean "Yes," and that 
words shall be conveyed letter by letter, the 
system adopted being for the living person to 



96 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

pronounce the letters of the alphabet in their 
due order and for the spirit to give a rap or tilt 
when the right letter is reached. 

It must not, however, be supposed that the 
employment of a table is in any way necessary. 
The method has come into vogue merely be- 
cause people assembling together for inter- 
course with discarnate spirits have found it 
convenient to sit round a table. Any idea 
that spirits have a predilection for, or an at- 
tachment to, a table or any other article of 
furniture is\a popular delusion and is most 
assuredly contrary to common sense. All 
available evidence goes to show that spirits find 
much greater difficulty in operating on matter 
than on mind. The setting of any physical 
mass in motion is a particularly arduous task; 
and the work becomes lighter in proportion as 
the mass to be moved is smaller and less 
weighty. To expect a spirit to set a bulky 
article like a table in movement is unreason- 
able; and the fact that tables are moved by 
spirits is not an argument to the contrary. 
Spirits are sometimes asked how they contrive 
to do such physical work, and a conventional 
reply has become current, namely, that the 
sitters "supply magnetism which is gathered 



COMMUNICATING 97 

in the medium and goes into the table." From 
a scientific point of view this answer is non- 
sensical. It is, in all probability, a "sophisti- 
cation" repeated, wittingly or unwittingly, by 
medium after medium. Another explanation 
which is put forward occasionally seems to be 
nearer the mark, i.e. that where heavy articles 
are moved the work is done by a number of 
spirits acting together. 

However all this may be, it is clear that 
those sitters who use less cumbrous means than 
tables for signalling are more likely to be satis- 
fied. And it is also clear that the customary 
"once for No" and "three times for Yes" are 
not imperative. Any other code may be 
adopted. Communications are not subject to 
any arbitrary regulations. They have all the 
freedom of ordinary personal intercourse. 

5. Direct Messages 

These have already been mentioned under 
the heading of Expectancy ; but they are occa- 
sionally found to occur in conjunction with 
other methods of communicating. A pencil 
is sometimes seen to be apparently writing of 
its own accord on a sheet of paper ; no human 



98 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

hand being near it. Sometimes it is seen to 
be guided by the simulacrum of a hand — a phe- 
nomenon that takes place more frequently 
when the sitting is held in a dimly-lighted 
locality or even in the dark. In the latter 
case the visibility is due to the object seen 
being self-luminous. The script produced by 
such direct writing is, of course, the message 
to be received. 

In like manner a message is sometimes con- 
veyed by a voice which is unconnected with 
any person present at the sitting; and the 
utterance m^y vary from a whisper addressed 
to some individual ear to a loud discourse audi- 
ble by the whole company. 

6. Materialisation 

This is a development of direct communica- 
tion. The spirit becomes either visible or 
tangible, and sometimes is both. Its form and 
appearance are akin to those of a clothed hu- 
man being; though the similarity is not in any 
way complete. The substance of which such 
phantasms are composed is as yet unknown to 
science; but its perceptibility by normal sight 
and touch suggests a material character, with- 



COMMUNICATING 99 

out, however, necessitating the idea of solidity 
any more than in the case of an evanescent 
cloud or mist. So, too, the form assumed 
must not be regarded as being necessarily the 
real form of the spirit in the apparition, the 
tenuous substance of which is obviously capable 
of any desired configuration; while the com- 
parative rarity of the phenomenon implies 
that it is only here and there that a spirit is 
found possessing the requisite knowledge and 
artistic capacity for the work of putting to- 
gether and shaping such a production. 

Some of the materialised beings seem unable 
to speak or to display much power of move- 
ment. Others can speak and move about with 
facility. Others again can handle various ob- 
jects, such as musical instruments, books, 
flowers and the like, and can convey them 
from place to place. 

The manifestations here touched upon are 
much more frequent in dark seances than in 
the light; and even when some degree of 
illumination is allowed the usual practice is 
to provide "cabinets" or screens under the 
cover of which the psychical effects are de- 
veloped. This naturally gives ample oppor- 
tunity for trickery to persons who, whether for 



100 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

money-making or for other motives, pose as 
mediums without having any real qualifica- 
tions for the work; and it is unquestionable 
that many instances of sham materialisations 
have from time to time taken place. On the 
other hand, the well-evidenced instances of real 
materialisations and of many other analogous 
kinds of psycho-physical phenomena are much 
more numerous. We must consider, more- 
over, that a good reason exists for dim light 
and darkness in connection with attempts to 
communicate } with discarnate spirits. When 
the eyes are a/ctive the mind receives continual 
impressions of numerous objects and occur- 
rences that engage its attention and render it 
much less receptive of occult influences. 
Hence by minimising or shutting out the dis- 
tractions of sight the soul of a sitter becomes 
very much more attuned to whatever telepathy 
may exist in connection with such external 
spirits as are present. 

iWlth regard to communicating in general 
the old proverb, "Practice makes perfect," 
holds good. Mediums, it is true, are born, not 
made ; but, as is the case with all human beings, 
their powers are at first immature, and have 
to be developed by long-continued exercise 



COMMUNICATING 101 

and more or less skilled training before the 
best results become attainable. Every person 
who wishes to speak with the dead is — as is 
also every other person in the world — at least 
a potential medium so far as he or she knows 
at the outset. If it be found on trial that 
psychic powers exist to an appreciable extent 
it may be taken for granted that they are 
capable of very great increase by persevering 
effort and systematic employment; and the 
growth may be such as to lead through the 
lower to the higher forms of communicating. 
If, however, after repeated experiments it ap- 
pears that a susceptibility to psychical influ- 
ences is lacking or very moderate in degree, 
or if, for any other reason, a continuance of 
personal effort be not desirable, then it be- 
comes necessary to have recourse to the serv- 
ices of mediums. These latter may be either 
amateur or professional; but, whichever they 
are, their utility depends upon the stage of 
development they have reached. 

The term "development" as here used means 
an increased sensitiveness of the perceptive 
faculty by which the medium becomes aware 
of and influenced by the proximity of discar- 
nate spirits. It means also an intensified 



102 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

passivity of the normal soul, thus facilitating 
control by the secondary mind or by external 
spirits. And it signifies furthermore the plac- 
ing of a larger proportion of the medium's sub- 
stance and physical powers at the disposal of 
the controlling beings, thereby enabling these 
existences to produce manifestations which 
otherwise would be impossible. The actual 
modus operandi of the use by a control of a 
medium's body and vitality is not yet under- 
stood; but the fact of such use has been a mat- 
ter of observation and experiment in all ages 
of which we have any record. Hence the com- 
munication with a discarnate spirit will be 
fuller, freer and more extended in proportion 
to the better adaptation of the intermediate 
psychical mechanism. 



CHAPTER VII 

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPEAKING WITH 

THE DEAD 

1.— As a general rule applying to all methods 
of communicating, every person who desires 
to be brought into touch with discarnate 
spirits should make a point of being tranquil, 
unoccupied, serious and attentive. There are 
two reasons for this. First, it is obvious that 
a mind free from outside cares and distractions 
is able to concentrate itself in any desired 
direction, and can become aware of influences 
that would pass unnoticed in the ordinary 
hurly-burly of life. Secondly, a soul at rest 
can be impressed by other souls very much 
more readily than when it is busy with activi- 
ties of its own. 

2. — The best method to adopt at the outset 
is that of Expectancy (see Chapter VI). 
The enquirer should sit quite alone in some 
room free from interruption — an indoors sit- 
ting, by reason of its fewer distractions, being 

103 



104 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

preferable to a sitting in any out-of-doors 
locality. 

The thoughts need not take any religious 
turn, and prayer is quite unnecessary. It is 
desirable, in fact, to think as little as possible 
about anything, except in the event of the 
presence of some particular spirit being hoped 
for. When that is the case the mind may with 
advantage be occupied by reminiscences con- 
nected with the spirit in question — a situation 
being thus created which much facilitates 
telepathy and is analogous to the hoisting of 
a signal calling for response. 

The evening is the most suitable time for an 
Expectancy sitting, which is to be held in the 
light or in semi-obscurity; the bustle and tur- 
moil of the day having then given place more 
or less to quietude and tranquillity. But, if 
darkness does not inspire fear, a sitting in a 
bedroom (or other apartment) during the hours 
from midnight to, say, two o'clock in the morn- 
ing is preferable. Silence is then more su- 
preme than at any other time, and the majority 
of the human beings in the locality are asleep. 
This accounts for the traditional notion of "the 
witching hour," which is not based, as is sup- 
posed erroneously, on some divine or diabolical 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 105 

limitation of certain hours as the free time for 
errant spirits. It refers to the fact that sleep 
is a kind of trance during which the hold of 
the body on the soul is slackened, thus facili- 
tating the task of any outside spirit who may 
wish to communicate; the point in issue being 
well exemplified by the old Romans (and 
others of the ancients) , who taught that dreams 
are the apparitions of supernormal beings. 

Dealing first with the case of a midnight sit- 
ting, it should be noted that absolute darkness 
is not imperative. The room may be illumi- 
nated in any way that is convenient; but, for 
reasons already given, the less light the better. 
If the nerves of the sitter will bear the strain 
the sitting should take place quite in the dark. 
In that event some apparatus for signalling 
by sound should be provided, such as, for in- 
stance, a small key suspended by a thread in- 
side a glass tumbler in such a manner that a 
very slight movement is accompanied by a 
tinkling. 

.After remaining quiet and expectant for a 
few minutes the sitter should speak aloud and 
ask, "Are there any spirits present ?" This re- 
quires a little courage, both physical and mor- 
al; the former because of the darkness, the 



106 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

"witching hour" and the sound of one's voice 
in the stillness; and the latter because one is 
tempted to regard both the situation and the 
question as absurd, and because one does not 
relish the idea of possibly making a fool of 
one's self. But it is merely a question of break- 
ing the ice. When once the sitter has spoken 
aloud the difficulty of speaking does not re- 
cur. 

To ask in one's mind whether there are any 
spirits present is not as effective as actual 
speech. There is a greater psychical concen- 
tration when a) thought is focussed, as it were, 
by spoken words; besides which there is some 
reason to believe that spirits — the bodily sub- 
stance and organs of whom are analogous to 
those of living persons — find it easier to re- 
ceive impressions by physical sounds than by 
telepathy. 

If no answer be given to the question, this 
should be repeated with a request that the 
spirit or spirits will reply by causing the sus- 
pended key to move in such a manner as to 
produce three distinct tinklings — or words to 
the same general effect in the case of some 
other signalling apparatus being employed. If 
there still be silence, it may be concluded either 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 107 

that no spirit is present in the room on that 
particular occasion, or that no spirit within 
hearing understands the English language, or 
that the prevailing temporary conditions do 
not allow of physical effects being produced 
on inanimate matter, or that the sitter, by lack 
of psychic power, is unable to attract the at- 
tention of discarnate spirits. 

If a reply be given, it is not a matter of 
course for it to take the form requested. In- 
stead of being a tinkling or other specified sig- 
nal, it may be a rustling, a rap, a tapping, a 
scratching, a pattering, a sigh, a movement of 
the air or of some object in the room, a sensa- 
tion of cold, a sound as of whispering, a faint 
luminosity, a touch, etc. Hence the necessity 
for the sitter to be keenly on the alert and 
completely attentive, while at the same time re- 
maining perfectly tranquil and collected; for 
some indication of a spirit being present may 
be given by the latter spontaneously before 
any word is spoken. 

When once any sign of communication is 
observed the sitter should announce the fact 
and should ask for it to be repeated, and if this 
be done a signalling code may thereupon be 
adopted by agreement and a conversation may 



108 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

take place accordingly. If, on the other hand, 
there be no sign at all during the period of, 
say, half an hour from the commencement of 
the sitting, this latter should terminate and the 
enquirer should renew the attempt on some fu- 
ture occasion. No disappointment need be felt 
at a negative result, whether at the outset of 
the experiments or at any particular sitting. 
Conditions are not always favourable, even 
with the same sitter and in the same room; and 
in spite of widely-prevalent ideas and the rec- 
ords of spiritualistic seances, it is quite idle to 
suppose that ) disembodied souls do, in fact, 
cater for the arbitrary wishes and personal 
convenience of human beings. Nothing of the 
kind can be taken for granted, except, indeed, 
that matter-void space has its inhabitants just 
as much as is the case with any matter-occu- 
pied locality, and that any room in any house 
is just as likely to be visited from time to time 
by discarnate spirits as by living persons. 

Coming now to what may be termed ordi- 
nary Expectancy sittings, that is to say, eve- 
ning sittings in a lighted or semi-lighted room, 
the conditions of visibility admit of more elab- 
orate manifestations than are possible in dark- 
ness. Automatic writing in particular be- 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 109 

comes practicable. Provision should be made 
for this by placing a pencil and one or more 
sheets of paper on a table or desk. And, of 
course, signalling apparatus should be fur- 
nished of either an audible or a visible kind. 
When these matters are attended to the pro- 
ceedings at the sitting should follow the 
course described as suitable for the midnight 
seance; but, naturally, both eyes and ears 
should be active in the detection of signs indi- 
cating the presence of spirits. And every now 
and then the pencil should be taken in the hand 
and held close to the paper in a writing posi- 
tion, the result frequently being that a strong 
impulse to write is felt. This should not be re- 
sisted. The hand should be given free play; 
but, of course, there should not be any con- 
scious guidance by the sitter. At first the script 
is, in the majority of instances, found to be a 
confused scribble or a meaningless sequence 
of words. Later on, if the sitter be patient and 
persevering, order begins to take the place of 
chaos and intelligible messages are obtained; 
always supposing that the enquirer is really 
gifted with an appreciable degree of psychic 
power. 

Self-deception and the imaginations bred of 



110 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

wishes and emotions are to be guarded against. 
This is an additional reason for cultivating a 
tranquil habit of mind and a level-headed habit 
of judgment. It should be remembered that 
in solitary Expectancy fraud and trickery are 
completely absent, and that all manifestations 
are matters of the most simple personal ob- 
servation, the accuracy of which can be con- 
firmed — as in an ordinary scientific laboratory 
— by the test of repetition. For the friends 
and acquaintances of the sitter the only evi- 
dence available is the latter's personal and un- 
corroborated (statements, which from a scien- 
tific point of view are worthless ; but for the sit- 
ter himself or herself the very same evidence 
is in the highest degree conclusive, and rightly 
so. The facts are known to have occurred. 

3. — The next step after solitary Expectancy 
has been tried is to arrange with one's friends 
for Expectancy Circles; that is to say, for 
groups of persons to meet together at appoint- 
ed times and in appointed places for the pur- 
pose of joint sittings. There are marked ad- 
vantages in proceeding thus. 

First, the probabilities of success are multi- 
plied. It is frequently the case that living in- 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 111 

dividuals, and especially those who have recent- 
ly lost some relative or friend by death, are 
' 'haunted," although they themselves are sel- 
dom conscious of the fact. If, then, several 
persons are present at a sitting the chances of 
there being some spirits near at hand are much 
increased. 

Secondly, there is a greater likelihood of 
some person being present who is naturally 
endowed with mediumistic powers, in which 
case it becomes easier for a spirit to enter into 
communication with the sitters. 

Thirdly, whatever may be the true explana- 
tion of the manner in which manifestations are 
brought about, it is well known that the more 
numerous the sitters the more full and com- 
plete are the phenomena. The theory of the 
sitters contributing "electricity" and "personal 
magnetism" may be very safely rejected as 
nonsensical; for the very words employed are 
not used in their ordinary scientific meaning 
and no other signification has ever been pro- 
pounded. But each person present does un- 
doubtedly make some contribution to what 
may be called the common stock of psychical 
influence available in the room where the sit- 
ting takes place. 



112 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

It should be a matter of common under- 
standing and agreement that the sitters in an 
Expectancy Circle are all animated by a seri- 
ous purpose and have not come together for 
mere amusement or for the "fun" of tricking 
each other. There is no objection to their be- 
ing as "sceptical" as they please. A sitter may 
be of opinion that all occultism is "tomfoolery" 
and "piffle." Opinions do not alter facts. If 
psychical phenomena do really occur all the 
scepticism in the world is of no moment; and 
no good evidence has ever been brought for- 
ward to show that spirits are in any way em- 
barrassed by the presence of doubters and re- 
sisters; though it is true enough that passivity 
on the part of the sitters favours communica- 
tion. A sceptic may happen to be a good me- 
dium without being aware of the fact ; in which 
case his or her mental prejudice will not hinder 
a spirit from making use of the psychic power 
thus brought into the Circle. At the same time 
practical joking and the surreptitious imita- 
tion of phenomena are quite out of place. They 
cannot do any good: they are productive of 
confusion; and, seeing that discarnate spirits 
have not changed their minds at death, there 
does not exist any reason for supposing such 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 113 

beings to have become incapable of taking of- 
fence and going away in high dudgeon when 
sitters attempt to make fools of them — in 
which case, of course, the sitting is a failure. 

With regard to the arrangement of the sit- 
ters, this is entirely a matter of convenience. 
Seats may be provided round a table or scat- 
tered about a room. And not the least atten- 
tion need be paid to the sitters joining hands 
or being otherwise in contact with each other: 
the supposed necessity of this being a popular 
delusion based upon some vague and erroneous 
notion of "electricity." 

The use of a table is, however, to be recom- 
mended. It is desirable for each sitter to have 
a pencil and paper in readiness ; for it cannot 
be known in advance which particular individ- 
uals are capable of automatic writing; and a 
table facilitates the manifestation as well as 
providing a convenient standing-place for sig- 
nalling apparatus, etc. 

The sitting may, if desired, take place at 
high noontide and in the very fullest daylight; 
though, for reasons already stated; it is better 
to sit in the evening and in semi-obscurity. The 
singing of hymns, praying and other "relig- 
ious" features are to be deprecated. They do 



114 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

not affect the actual phenomena; but their ten- 
dency is to produce a morbid and emotional 
frame of mind which in its turn facilitates self- 
deception and the imaginary perception of 
happenings that do not really occur. Conver- 
sation also should not be indulged in to any 
extent that engrosses the attention of the sit- 
ters. By far the best plan is for the Circle to 
sit silently, each individual being on the alert 
to perceive and announce the slightest indica- 
tion of anything external. 

At the expiration of a few minutes — assum- 
ing no manifestation to have happened — some 
sitter should ask aloud the question, "Is 
any spirit present?" and if no answer be re- 
ceived the question should be repeated, turn 
by turn, by all the other sitters. In this way 
it is often possible to discover those of the Cir- 
cle who are natural mediums; a fact that is 
also made evident by the ability to write auto- 
matically or by the susceptibility to "impres- 
sions," such as touches, whispers, the sensation 
of a cool breeze, tremblings, twitches and, in 
rare cases, various forms of clairvoyance, 
trance and insensibility. 

If the first round of questioning produce no 
result, the silent sitting should be resumed for 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 115 

another period of a few minutes and then the 
question should again be asked. These alter- 
nate silences and questionings should be con- 
tinued for as long as may be convenient; and 
then the Circle may adjourn to some future 
date. It is not, however, very usual for a com- 
plete blank to be drawn, where several — say 
half a dozen or so — persons sit together. Some 
"sign" or another is pretty sure to be per- 
ceived. 

When once a manifestation of any kind 
takes place it should be confirmed by asking 
for it to be repeated ; and then a code of com- 
munication can be agreed upon and conversa- 
tion can proceed. It will facilitate matters 
and prevent confusion if each communicating 
spirit be requested to declare its identity, and 
then for the particular sitter who may recog- 
nise the name and personality to conduct the 
interview. 

The so-called "test" questions and other 
"evidential" conversations are, for the most 
part, a waste of time and the loss of an oppor- 
tunity of obtaining useful information. Spirits 
are, after all, mere ordinary souls in an envir- 
onment somewhat different from the human 
body and its mundane surroundings. They are 



116 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

as little likely as is any reasonable man or 
woman to trouble themselves with personating 
their fellow-souls at random. What are they 
to Hecuba, or Hecuba to them? When a 
spirit claims to be some specified disembodied 
soul the probabilities are greatly in favour of 
the claim being true; just as in common life 
people are found to be as a rule the persons 
they assert themselves to be. That somq of the 
spirits in circumterrestrial space are, in a sense, 
vagabonds, without kith, kin or any specific 
identity connected with humanity, may well be 
the case, and is now and then a matter of ob- 
servation; but this is not any reason why they 
should find any satisfaction in masquerading 
as Tom, Dick and Harry, There is probably 
some amusement to be extracted from per- 
sonating a great figure of history, such as 
Julius Caesar, Luther, Napoleon, Disraeli or 
Gladstone, and inducing both mediums and 
sitters to accept with reverence the pompous 
utterance of ridiculous banalities ; and the his- 
tory of Spiritualism shows that something of 
the kind does really happen now and then. 
But no evidence exists to show that the aver- 
age sitter who seeks to speak with the average 
deceased relative or friend is ever duped by 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 117 

any impersonation of the latter. It may not 
always be possible to prove the genuineness 
of the communication to the satisfaction of an 
outside scoffer or critic. This, however, is not 
a need of the case. The sitter hears and knows 
for himself or herself at first-hand. What does 
it matter if outsiders who have not been pres- 
ent at the manifestations and merely hear of 
them at second-hand choose to evolve from 
their own inner consciousness the theory that 
the spirit interviewed was not the real "sainted 
Maria," but was merely a mischievous "spook" 
or, more probably, the "fake" of some me- 
dium? The old proverb remains good, "The 
proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof." 
Any person of ordinary good sense is quite 
capable of distinguishing between sham and 
reality even when speaking with the dead is 
in question. 

4. — When an Expectancy Circle has had 
several successful sittings and has established 
communications with spirits, those latter 
should be asked to collect together a group of 
beings "on the other side" who are willing to 
co-operate actively with the Circle by regular 
attendance and the production of manifesta- 



118 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

tions on a continually-developing scale. In 
past times there has been by far too little of 
such co-operation. Each professional medium 
has had his or her alleged "controls," who in an 
incidental way have occasionally introduced 
spirits, while the sitters have also — without any 
design of so doing — brought disembodied souls 
to the seances. And sittings — especially of the 
"table" kind — have taken place in private 
homes where the enquirers have usually been 
restricted to a few members of a single family, 
and where the spirits communicated with have 
been recently-aeceased relatives and other in- 
experienced beings. Under such circumstances 
it is surprising that so much progress has been 
made. 

It is found, however, that spirits are just 
as "keen" and interested in psychical phenom- 
ena and the extension of communication across 
the border-line as are the Crookeses, Lodges, 
Barretts, Crawfords and other investigators in 
the ranks of the living. It is not difficult for 
an Expectancy Circle of sitters to develop into 
a Progressive Circle of co-operating sitters and 
spirits. A request for co-operation is usually 
complied with, and it almost always happens 
that the spirits who are asked to act succeed 






PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 119 

very quickly in finding others to assist, some 
of whom have had much experience in mani- 
festing and communicating and can instruct 
their human colleagues how best to operate. 
What is chiefly necessary on the part of the 
sitters in order to ensure results of the highest 
type is to work in a systematic and co-ordinat- 
ed way; and the manner in which this may be 
most effectually done is by each human mem- 
ber of a Progressive Circle entering into rela- 
tions with some specific spirit-members and 
undertaking some distinct line of conversation 
and enquiry by whatever method may be most 
convenient and practicable — e.g. by automatic 
or direct writing, by signalling, by clairvoy- 
ance, etc. These duologues, or — where more 
than one sitter and one spirit are concerned — 
these Committee Meetings may be held at any 
time and place found fitting, and should be 
carefully recorded for report to the regular 
sittings of the Progressive Circle, when the 
various reports are considered and compared 
together and are made the starting-point for 
additional conversations and enquiries, 

5. — The great majority of attempts at 
speaking with the dead are of a character much 



120 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

less ambitious and far-reaching than is that of 
the Expectancy and Progressive Circles 
method; and the results are correspondingly 
imperfect. The system most generally adopt- 
ed is what in early and mid- Victorian days was 
known as "table-turning" or "raps," and con- 
sisted in a number of persons sitting round a 
table on which their hands were placed, the 
right hand of each sitter resting on, or some- 
times only touching his neighbour's left hand. 
After a little while a tapping or rapping noise 
would be heard on the table, or the table would 
tilt up a litile at intervals, or it would turn 
round and round, or it would move about the 
room. Any of these occurrences admitted of 
utilisation for signalling purposes, and in that 
way it was found possible to enter into intelli- 
gent communication with the spirit or spirits 
acting on the table — it being generally the case 
that the communicator was a deceased relative 
of one of the sitters. 

In a Table-sitting — the term now common- 
ly employed — it is desirable for the hands of 
the sitters to be placed on the table (though 
the reason for this is not yet clear) , but it is not 
necessary for any sitter's hands to be in actual 
contact with those of his neighbours — there not 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 121 

being any electric or other current in circula- 
tion. And it is not necessary for the sitters 
to engage in any form of incantation, whether 
sung, spoken or thought. They should, how- 
ever, be serious and attentive, and should be 
careful not to spoil the sitting by any foolery 
or conscious attempts to tilt or move the table. 
It is best for some one of the sitters to act as 
spokesman and for some outsider — i.e. a per- 
son not sitting at the table — to officiate as the 
recorder of all that is said and done. The sim- 
plest system of communication to adopt is that 
of the alphabet ; the letters being called out by 
the spokesman in regular order and the table 
giving a rap or making a movement whenever 
the right letter is reached. It must not, how- 
ever, be taken for granted that words will be 
spelt correctly or that the letters will be 
grouped in regular sequences of words. Many 
a message has been put aside as a mere hap- 
hazard unmeaning jumble of letters, and has 
subsequently been found perfectly intelligible 
and intelligent when the key to the arrange- 
ment of the letters has been hit upon. Why 
such puzzles should be set with seeming delib- 
eration by the spirits is not understood ; all we 
know is that the phenomenon sometimes oc- 



122 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

curs and its possibility must therefore be taken 
into account. 

6. — The sittings referred to in the foregoing 
five Instructions are such as may take place 
without the aid of professional mediums, and 
for that reason are commonly regarded as be- 
ing particularly satisfactory and "evidential." 
This, however, is a view born of prejudice. It 
assumes that professional mediums are all 
more or less untrustworthy. Persons who are 
broad-minded enough to rise superior to 
prejudice and^who choose to weigh seriously 
the pros and cons of the whole matter are 
bound to recognise the advantage, in all kinds 
of enquiry, of seeking the assistance of indi- 
viduals possessing natural qualifications who 
have become expert in their own province. Ac- 
cordingly, in speaking with the dead a rational 
person will not deem it needful to keep aloof 
from professional mediums. Rather will he 
seek their aid whenever opportunity serves — 
provided always that no good reason exists for 
doubting the good faith of any individual me- 
dium so met with. 

The proceedings at a sitting conducted by a 
medium are of much the same general char- 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 123 

acter as in the case of the Expectancy Circles 
and Table-sittings already described, except 
that the sitters are altogether passive instead 
of taking any active part. 

Precautions for ensuring "anonymity" and 
the like are needless. Mediums as a rule are 
quite careless respecting the identity of their 
sitters, save, perhaps, in the cases of highly- 
placed persons. Besides, the sitters go to the 
mediums for their own private requirements 
and not for the purpose of building up a struc- 
ture of evidence that shall satisfy some other 
mind. The best plan, therefore, is not to trou- 
ble about what the medium does or does not 
know normally, and to depend on one's own 
common sense in judging of, and dealing with, 
any communication received. 

So, too, with regard to the alleged "con- 
trols." It is idle to attempt anything in the 
nature of cross-examination or "tests." Such 
attempts, if there be confusion, will only make 
it worse confounded. The proper course to 
pursue is to listen attentively to all that is said, 
and to ask only such questions as may be de- 
sirable for the purpose of elucidation or in or- 
der to elicit further information. 

It is, however, obvious that where a medium 



1M HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

writes automatically or speaks under control 
there must always exist a doubt as to how much 
is genuine and how much is "sophistication/' 
either intentional or of an unconscious charac- 
ter. The sitter, therefore, who thinks proper 
to consult a professional medium will do well 
to ask for a Table-sitting in preference to a 
Trance-sitting; as when a Table-sitting takes 
place the medium remains normal, and the 
communication is conveyed through the instru- 
mentality of the inanimate table instead of 
making its way amid the disturbing influences 
of the medipn's brain and personality. If the 
medium cannot, or will not, give a Table-sit- 
ting it is not worth while for the sitter to ex- 
press any dissatisfaction: the situation must be 
accepted with as good a grace as possible — 
tranquillity and harmony being the proper at- 
mosphere where mental phenomena are in is- 
sue. 

In the case of Trance-sittings, where the 
medium is likely to be strongly controlled and 
made to speak or act in the guise of some other 
individuality (it being sometimes the case that 
a decided modification of facial expression, 
features and voice becomes noticeable), a fre- 
quent practice is to arrange for a subdued light 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 125 

— as, for example, by pulling down the win- 
dow-blinds and using a lamp with red glass. 
This is quite unnecessary ; it is a mere conven- 
tional usage based upon a tradition to the effect 
that spirits are more powerful in darkness than 
in light; but the proceeding need not be ob- 
jected to. It is as harmless as is the colour or 
the pattern of the wall-paper. 

Some professional mediums adopt the meth- 
od of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience ; that is 
to say, the communications take the form of an 
oral description by the medium of what he or 
she sees and hears in the vicinity of the sitters 
— the underlying supposition being that the 
latter bring with them certain haunting spirits 
or that certain spirits make their way into the 
room from the outside in order to be near the 
sitters. This kind of a sitting is, perhaps, the 
least satisfactory of any from an intellectual 
point of view. The medium may be labouring 
under some delusion or may even be deliberate- 
ly inventing the alleged appearances and ut- 
terances. No method has yet been discovered 
of clearly distinguishing between genuine and 
unreal clairvoyance (a word which also in- 
cludes crystal-gazing and the like). Sitters 



126 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

must judge for themselves what to believe and 
what to reject. 

7. — Materialisation-sittings with the assist- 
ance of professional mediums form a distinct 
category of phenomena. They cannot be 
classed under the head of "communications," 
and they are just as much physical as psychi- 
cal. Their chief defect is that they are not 
"open and above-board," as is the case with 
the analogous proceedings of ordinary "table- 
turning" in private circles, where very 
astounding faaovements, etc., take place in full 
light. For some reason or another — good, bad 
or indifferent — but never on account of any 
real necessity, materialising mediums in the 
majority of cases insist upon the sittings tak- 
ing place in darkness, and upon the use of 
"cabinets" and screens in the shelter of which 
the spirits are understood to make their pre- 
parations for the show they are about to give. 
The sitters, of course, cannot interfere: a pa- 
tient does not instruct the physician with re- 
spect to what prescription is needful. Each 
medium must be allowed to go about his busi- 
ness in his own way; and each sitter is equally 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 127 

free to make his own observations and form 
his own conclusions. 

The stock phenomena in dark seances are 
the sounding of musical instruments laid upon 
the table for the purpose and their being 
moved about through the air, the sitters oc- 
casionally feeling themselves touched by the 
articles in question. Then, too, fitful lights are 
seen here and there in the room, and voices are 
heard speaking or singing. Small objects, 
such as flowers, are tossed about, and larger 
ones, such as chairs, couches, etc., are moved — 
often with great violence. It is, moreover, not 
an uncommon occurrence for detached hands 
and faces, faintly luminised, to become visible ; 
while, sometimes, what appear to be full-sized 
simulacra of human beings mix with the sitters. 

The medium in charge of such sitting is usu- 
ally tied to a chair or held by some of the sit- 
ters in such as way as to prevent any trickery. 
This course of action should not, however, be 
pursued. Sitters do not attend seances for the 
sake of amusement or for the purpose of wit- 
nessing a clever conjuring exhibition. There 
ought not to be any question of a contest of 
wits between the sitters and the medium. The 
real object to be striven for is the complete- 



128 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

ness of the manifestations; and this can best 
be attained by giving the medium and the 
spirits the freest of free play. 

Let it be granted, for argument's sake, that 
trickery is possible. Let it be admitted, as a 
matter of fact, that many mediums have been 
detected and exposed in various instances of 
imposture. This shows merely that some al- 
leged materialisations are not genuine ; it does 
not prove that no materialisation ever takes 
place. Here, also, the sitter must judge for 
himself. Where it is possible to adopt both a 
normal a^id a supernormal explanation of any 
observed ( manifestation the rules of scientific 
enquiry impose upon us the obligation of post- 
ulating a "natural" cause in preference to as- 
suming that some "supernatural" power is in 
operation; we are bound, for example, in cases 
admitting of trickery, to hold that the medium 
is a cheat rather than to infer the intervention 
of any spirit. But when a normal explanation 
is not possible, or so highly improbable as to 
be outside the confines of good sense, we act 
foolishly if we insist upon declining to recog- 
nise a patent fact merely because it does not 
fit in with our pre-conceived opinions. The 
same remark applies, mutatis mutandis, to 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 129 

many of the "normal explanations" in them- 
selves. It is, for example, said sometimes that 
the voices heard in the course of dark sittings 
are produced ventriloquially by the medium. 
This leaves out of view the consideration that 
ventriloquy is in itself an illusion depending 
upon the sense of sight as well as upon that of 
hearing. No ventriloquist, however clever, 
can produce the impression of there being a 
sound emanating from some specific locality 
when the hearer is in the dark; a fact that is 
evident to any person who tries the experiment 
of shutting his eyes when at a ventriloquial 
entertainment. And if we reflect that in a 
materialisation seance several distinct voices 
are often heard simultaneously, the explana- 
tion of the medium being a ventriloquist is 
seen to be ludicrously inadequate. The "nor- 
mal" theory does not fare any better in sug- 
gesting that the medium manages to vacate his 
chair in the darkness and to pick up the trum- 
pet or the tambourine, etc., from which he 
forthwith proceeds to extract some sounds. 
This might be feasible in the case of a single 
instrument in a single locality; but it often 
happens that several instruments of various 
kinds are being played simultaneously and are 



180 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

heard in different parts of the room at the 
same time. And when it is remembered that 
the sitting where such facts occur may, and 
does frequently, take place in a sitter's own 
house, where the medium has not been able to 
make any preparations and where no confed- 
erate is available, the futility of the "natural" 
way of accounting for the manifestations be- 
comes still further evident. So, after all, we 
come round once more to the recommendation 
that the sitter should not interfere, should 
merely observe, should keep an open mind 
and should be guided by facts quite irrespec- 
tively of whether the facts be normal or super- 
normal. 



CHAPTER VIII 



"spiritualism" and "rationalism" 



This book ought not to be concluded without 
something being said as to its design and char- 
acter, and as to the mental attitude it presumes 
on the part of its readers. 

It is intended, first, as a practical guide for 
the assistance of those persons who may be de- 
sirous of speaking with the dead ; and, second- 
ly, as an elementary text-book of occult phe- 
nomena. It presupposes for its readers a wil- 
lingness to be guided by facts and a disregard 
of opinions based upon imagination instead of 
upon fact. 

Leaving out of view all questions of religion, 
religious authority and Church controversy, it 
may be stated generally that most people are 
given to understand that occult matters must 
be looked upon in the light of either "spirit- 
ualism" or "rationalism." When, therefore, 
they find in the public press various statements 
by eminent spiritualists that demolish the case 

13X 



132 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

of the rationalists, and when they at the same 
time discover statements by eminent ration- 
alists that are equally destructive of the posi- 
tions occupied by the spiritualists, it becomes 
very difficult for persons who are not close stu- 
dents of the matters in dispute to arrive at a 
settled judgment. Accordingly, the following 
observations may prove of some service. 

The true nature of articles in the newspa- 
pers, magazines and reviews should be borne 
in mind. These articles are written profes- 
sionally, that is, for pay, and they have to pro- 
vide commercial value for the remuneration 
received by their writers. They have to be 
readable and popular, which means that they 
must be smart and sensational and penned 
with much literary ability. The authors have 
also their own futures to think of; they must 
please their respective editors and they must 
show off to the best advantage such stores of 
knowledge, such dialectical powers, and such 
capabilities in the arts of sarcasm and abuse as 
they may possess. They are like the barristers 
in the courts of law. They are not concerned 
for either justice or truth. Their business is to 
snatch a verdict if they can; and to do this they 
find their best plan is to fasten upon the weak 



"SPIRITUALISM" AND "RATIONALISM" 133 

points of their adversaries and ignore the 
strong ones ; while, as regards their own cases, 
they make the most of every favourable fea- 
ture and keep all doubtful points in the back- 
ground. So the reader should be on his or her 
guard, and should not accept meekly, as a mat- 
ter of course, anything that appears in print. 
A good example of what is here referred to 
may be found in the Strand Magazine of July, 
1917, under the title of "Is Sir Oliver Lodge 
Right? 'Yes,' by Sir A. Conan Doyle. 'No/ 
by Edward Clodd." 

Persons who wish to pursue the study of 
dialectics and partisan literature in connection 
with psychical phenomena may be recommend- 
ed to read Light and The International Psy- 
chic Gazette, which are the two leading organs 
of the Spiritualists in England, and the Lit- 
erary Guide (the sub-title being The Ration- 
alist Review), which is published by the Ra- 
tionalist Press Association, and is the recog- 
nised mouthpiece of the most distinguished ex- 
ponents of Rationalism in the United King- 
dom. All three of the publications referred to 
are characterised by much learning and very 
great ability. The facts they record are select- 
ed carefully from partisan points of view and 



134 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

the comments and arguments that appear in 
their pages are admirably one-sided and cor- 
respondingly conclusive. But the reader is 
thus enabled to see both sides of the shield, 
and has himself only to blame if he become the 
champion of either gold or silver. 

Current literature, however, is not the only 
danger in the path of persons who desire to 
walk in the company of Reason. Current 
teaching is perhaps even more formidable, and 
especially so where Science is concerned. The 
popular idea of scientific men is that they are 
votaries of Tr^ith and are deaf to the voice of 
every other deity. Hence the authority wield- 
ed by the leaders of Science, and the willing 
obedience rendered to their behests. It is rarely 
remembered that scientific men are simple hu- 
man beings, subject to the same weaknesses 
and possessed of the same foibles as the rest 
of the race. History has shown that if power 
be placed in the hands of any professional set 
of men it will inevitably be abused; and Sci- 
ence does not provide an exception to the rule. 
There is every whit as much bigotry, blind dog- 
ma and savage intolerance in scientific circles 
as ever there was in any ecclesiastical or puri- 
tanical organisations. Sir William Crookes, 



"SPIRITUALISM 55 AND "RATIONALISM 55 135 

O.M., P.R.S., found this out very many years 
ago, and Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., is now re- 
discovering it; the latter case of persecution 
by the Rationalistic Inquisition being rendered 
particularly piquant because of the great in- 
debtedness of current materialism to the fa- 
mous champion of the Ether — a doctrine that 
forms the only line of defence as yet available 
against the attacks of the Becquerel rays, the 
Ballistic Theory of Explosives and other sub- 
verters of modern dogma. 

In the midst of all such strife this little book 
is neutral, and it counsels its readers to be neu- 
tral also. Rationalism is a good thing in a way 
and within proper limits; and so is Spiritual- 
ism. But neither the one nor the other is the 
whole truth ; and, when rightly understood, the 
two schools of thought are not at variance. 
When Science speaks of the universe being 
fashioned and ruled by Nature, Evolution and 
the like, it is only another way of naming the 
very same existing something that the Chris- 
tian calls God. The glorious Service of Hu- 
manity when followed into the recesses of its 
meaning is found to be a mere plain listening 
to one's conscience; and the survival of good 
deeds is, in the last analysis, indistinguishable 



136 HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD 

from the survival of the souls by whom they 
are accomplished. 

Sursum corda. Let us speak to the dead 
and let us add their knowledge and counsel to 
the common store. 



THE END 






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